In a Spirit of Curiosity, Concern, Collaboration, and Humility: Considering the Work of Middle Grades Education in the Context of a Pandemic

When we envision the ideals of middle school, we so often think about the importance of physical setting. Physical setting helps to create a material space for so many of the tenets of the middle school mindset. For example, “a successful (middle) school for young adolescents is an inviting, supportive, and safe place---a joyful community that promotes in-depth learning and enhances students’ physical and emotional well-being. In a school (with a material, physical setting), human relationships are paramount.” (National Middle School Association, 2010, p. 33). With the outbreak of Covid-19 and pandemic conditions forcing so many to shelter-in-place, our collective thinking about this ideal has been forced to shapeshift. Without prerequisite planning, the physical setting has become a digital setting. What are the challenges of such a sudden and unexpected shift? What are the trending topics scrolling our personal and professional timelines? What are the solutions? This is the developing story, told in two voices, of middle grades educators reflecting on, living through, and teaching within the current reality of pandemic conditions that have shifted our personal and professional paradigms. In this essay, we will share some of our challenges and in-progress solutions. We consider shifts in our practices and professional mindsets as we seek to thrive and to serve middle grades educators and students in two different contexts. We pose questions that have incomplete answers and share our imperfect thinking as we seek answers. Our mindsets are evolving even as we write. We consider this topic in a spirit of curiosity, concern, collaboration, and humility

Issue Brief: Native American/First Amendment, Speech, Religion

This brief will explore the limitations of the first amendment in regards to the religious freedoms of Native Americans who wish to preserve their place of worship (i.e. their land) and their religious usage of hallucinogens

Suite in A Minor from Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin, by Jean-Philippe Rameau: A Critical Edition, Transcribed for Harp

Thesis (DM) – Indiana University, Music, 202

Healthcare Price Transparency: Policy Approaches and Estimated Impacts on Spending

Healthcare price transparency discussions typically focus on increasing patients' access to information about their out-of-pocket costs, but that focus is too narrow and should include other audiences -- physicians, employers, health plans and policymakers -- each with distinct needs and uses for healthcare price information. Greater price transparency can reduce U.S. healthcare spending.For example, an estimated $100 billion could be saved over the next 10 years if three select interventions were undertaken. However, most of the projected savings come from making price information available to employers and physicians, according to an analysis by researchers at the former Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). Based on the current availability and modest impact of plan-based transparency tools, requiring all private plans to provide personalized out-of-pocket price data to enrollees would reduce total health spending by an estimated$18 billion over the next decade. While $18 billion is a substantial dollar amount, it is less than a tenth of a percent of the$40 trillionin total projected health spending over the same period. In contrast, using state all-payer claims databases to gather and report hospital-specific prices might reduce spending by an estimated $61 billion over 10 years.The effects of price transparency depend critically on the intended audience, the decision-making context and how prices are presented. And the impact of price transparency can be greatly amplified if target audiences are able and motivated to act on the information. Simply providing prices is insufficient to control spending without other shifts in healthcare financing, including changes in benefit design to make patients more sensitive to price differences among providers and alternative treatments. Other reforms that can amplify the impact of price transparency include shifting from fee-for-service payments that reward providers for volume to payment methods that put providers at risk for spending for episodes of care or defined patient populations. While price transparency alone seems unlikely to transform the healthcare system, it can play a needed role in enabling effective reforms in value-based benefit design and provider payment

Baton Rouge Collective Healing Initiative: Final Report

In response to recent and historic traumatic events that caused distrust and strained relationships between law enforcement and their communities, the U. S. Department of Justice, Office of Victims of Crime (OVC), selected five demonstration sites to invest in restorative and healing activities to repair community-police relationships. The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) worked closely with the sites over the three-year grant period to improve relations through evidence-based interventions, technical assistance, and peer learning. The program, Law Enforcement and the Communities They Serve: Supporting Collective Healing in the Wake of Harm began in the selected cities, which included 1) Baton Rouge, Louisiana; 2) Houston, Texas; 3) Minneapolis, Minnesota; 4) Oakland, California; and 5) Rapid City, South Dakota. The purpose of Collective Healing was to foster meaningful dialogue and reconciliation among law enforcement agencies and the communities of color they serve, to increase the capacity of victim services programs, and to address officer health and wellness. Collective Healing programs were led by police departments and supported by victim assistance programs, behavioral health agencies, grassroots organizations, and academic partners. IACP provided technical assistance and training and conducted site visits to monitor accountability and effectiveness. The Baton Rouge Collective Healing Initiative was conducted from October 1, 2017, through September 30, 2020. The Baton Rouge Police Department (BRPD) served as the lead and fiscal agent for the project. BRPD hired a program manager to coordinate the partnership and complete grant activities. The original core members of the Baton Rouge Collective Healing Initiative included community partners who were vested in improving community-police relationships. The core partners included 100 Black Men of Metro Baton Rouge, the Baton Rouge Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Capital Area Human Services, LSU Social Research and Evaluation Center, and the Southern University, Center for Social Research

Trio Southwest

Program listing performers and works performed

Topological network properties of resting-state functional connectivity patterns are associated with metal mixture exposure in adolescents

IntroductionAdolescent exposure to neurotoxic metals adversely impacts cognitive, motor, and behavioral development. Few studies have addressed the underlying brain mechanisms of these metal-associated developmental outcomes. Furthermore, metal exposure occurs as a mixture, yet previous studies most often consider impacts of each metal individually. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the relationship between exposure to neurotoxic metals and topological brain metrics in adolescents. MethodsIn 193 participants (53% females, ages: 15-25 years) enrolled in the Public Health Impact of Metals Exposure (PHIME) study, we measured concentrations of four metals (manganese, lead, copper, and chromium) in multiple biological media (blood, urine, hair, and saliva) and acquired resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. Using graph theory metrics, we computed global and local efficiency (global:GE; local:LE) in 111 brain areas (Harvard Oxford Atlas). We used weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression models to examine association between metal mixtures and each graph metric (GE or LE), adjusted for sex and age. ResultsWe observed significant negative associations between the metal mixture and GE and LE [beta GE = -0.076, 95% CI (-0.122, -0.031); beta LE= -0.051, 95% CI (-0.095, -0.006)]. Lead and chromium measured in blood contributed most to this association for GE, while chromium measured in hair contributed the most for LE. DiscussionOur results suggest that exposure to this metal mixture during adolescence reduces the efficiency of integrating information in brain networks at both local and global levels, informing potential neural mechanisms underlying the developmental toxicity of metals. Results further suggest these associations are due to combined joint effects to different metals, rather than to a single metal

Exploring Entrepreneurial Cognition in Franchisees: A Knowledge-Structure Approach

ABSTRACT Franchisees participate in new business creation uniquely, because, in many respects, the development of their ventures is under the direction of franchisors. In this study, using entrepreneurial scripts, we compare the extent to which franchisee venturing is similar to and/ or distinct from individual-based entrepreneurship in non-franchise new ventures. We therefore examined the entrepreneurial scripts of individuals in a purposeful sample of 54 franchisees compared to two counterpart groups: 54 independent entrepreneurs and 94 managers (neither franchisee nor entrepreneur). Using MANCOVA and follow-up tests we find that franchisees are less like entrepreneurs and more similar to non-entrepreneur managers