Leaders Need Spiritual Intelligence

The complexity of our world calls for leaders to have spiritual intelligence and the transformational capacity to lead organizations and communities (Al Eid et al., 2021; Crichton, 2008; Hacker et al., 2017; Sisk, 2016). Spiritual intelligence can be affiliated with a religion but grounded in the belief that all humans align with a greater calling (Emmons, 2000; King & DeCicco, 2009; Lee-Fong et al., 2022; Shea, 2000; Vaughan, 2002). Through qualitative methods using surveys and interviews with thirty leaders, this study found that contemplative spiritual practices enable spiritual intelligence and build transformational leadership capacity. Transformational leadership is the favored approach to implement sustainable change and address complex issues (Bell et al., 2022; Morton, 2020; Wigglesworth, 2004). This study contributes to existing literature supplying research on contemplative spiritual practices’ effect on spiritual intelligence and transformational leadership capacity. Conclusions include the necessity of contemplative spiritual practices and a trusted community for leaders to deepen and broaden perspectives, develop capacity, and support others while addressing complex issues. Recommendations include further research and enhancing the graduate curriculum at St. Catherine University and like institutions. This research is critical because neglecting our spiritual intelligence further complicates our world. The Enabling Spiritual Intelligence study expands the transformational leadership theory and extends the understanding of the importance and accessibility of spiritual intelligence. Spiritual intelligence is relevant now as more complex issues exist in our organizations and communities. Our world needs leaders with spiritual intelligence (SQ) and greater leadership capacity to lead organizations and communities through such issues (Al Eid et al., 2021; Burrows & Gnad, 2018; Crichton, 2008; Hacker et al., 2017; Sisk, 2016). This research explores how to achieve SQ and transformational leadership capacity and why it is crucial now. It determines the relevancy of SQ and how to achieve it, the presence of complex issues, and the importance of SQ for leaders. The introduction of this study provides the significance, scope, limitations, and an overview of the research structure. The challenges with this research include a narrow sample of participants and the personal nature of spirituality. This study includes participants with undergraduate degrees who studied contemplative spiritual practices at St. Catherine University or similar institutions. This is a biased group to research as they sought to learn about their spirituality and practices, creating an opportunity for a control group. Due to time constraints, this study lacks a control group; however, it sets the foundation for further study. In addition, it lacks follower participant input, a balancing component of the transformational leadership theory (Bass, 1985). Another limitation includes the personal nature of discussing spiritual intelligence and practices. This personal topic can make participating in surveys and interviews challenging. As a result of this sensitivity, I use pseudonyms, signed consent forms, and clear communication of the opportunity to stop participation at any time. The background, reflexivity, problem, and purpose statements follow, along with the research objectives and question following. This study argues the value of this research along with known limitations. The next portion of the research includes the Literature Review, organized by key terms and thematic analysis to represent the related identified literature. Next, the Theoretical Framework uses two spiritual intelligence models and the transformational leadership theory to organize the research. The Method portion of this research conveys a qualitative approach and analysis explaining the tools and data collected. It also reviews the reflective thematic approach to coding and identifying themes. The Findings section of this study includes the definition and support of five themes through participant input. The findings align with the transformational leadership theory dimensions in the Discussion section and include the limitations of this study. Finally, the Summary and Recommendations address the limitations, ending the research with the Conclusion. SQ and leadership capacity fuel transformational leadership, the favored approach to enable sustainable change by addressing complex issues (Bell et al., 2022; Morton, 2020; Wigglesworth, 2004). Spiritual intelligence can sometimes seem out of reach or even mysterious, but we all have the potential or opportunity to develop it through contemplative spiritual practices. This study aims to extend the existing literature, education, and beliefs by understanding how contemplative spiritual practices affect spiritual intelligence and how vital SQ is today for transformational leadership capacity. Finally, this study extends research into how contemplative spiritual practices and SQ education can integrate into leadership programming. The opportunity to provide awareness of contemplative spiritual practices and education to develop spiritual intelligence could give St. Catherine University students greater transformational leadership capacity to address complex issues

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Results from the centers for disease control and prevention's predict the 2013-2014 Influenza Season Challenge

Background: Early insights into the timing of the start, peak, and intensity of the influenza season could be useful in planning influenza prevention and control activities. To encourage development and innovation in influenza forecasting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) organized a challenge to predict the 2013-14 Unites States influenza season. Methods: Challenge contestants were asked to forecast the start, peak, and intensity of the 2013-2014 influenza season at the national level and at any or all Health and Human Services (HHS) region level(s). The challenge ran from December 1, 2013-March 27, 2014; contestants were required to submit 9 biweekly forecasts at the national level to be eligible. The selection of the winner was based on expert evaluation of the methodology used to make the prediction and the accuracy of the prediction as judged against the U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet). Results: Nine teams submitted 13 forecasts for all required milestones. The first forecast was due on December 2, 2013; 3/13 forecasts received correctly predicted the start of the influenza season within one week, 1/13 predicted the peak within 1 week, 3/13 predicted the peak ILINet percentage within 1 %, and 4/13 predicted the season duration within 1 week. For the prediction due on December 19, 2013, the number of forecasts that correctly forecasted the peak week increased to 2/13, the peak percentage to 6/13, and the duration of the season to 6/13. As the season progressed, the forecasts became more stable and were closer to the season milestones. Conclusion: Forecasting has become technically feasible, but further efforts are needed to improve forecast accuracy so that policy makers can reliably use these predictions. CDC and challenge contestants plan to build upon the methods developed during this contest to improve the accuracy of influenza forecasts. © 2016 The Author(s)

Rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3, and TREM2 implicate microglial-mediated innate immunity in Alzheimer's disease

We identified rare coding variants associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in a 3-stage case-control study of 85,133 subjects. In stage 1, 34,174 samples were genotyped using a whole-exome microarray. In stage 2, we tested associated variants (P<1×10-4) in 35,962 independent samples using de novo genotyping and imputed genotypes. In stage 3, an additional 14,997 samples were used to test the most significant stage 2 associations (P<5×10-8) using imputed genotypes. We observed 3 novel genome-wide significant (GWS) AD associated non-synonymous variants; a protective variant in PLCG2 (rs72824905/p.P522R, P=5.38×10-10, OR=0.68, MAFcases=0.0059, MAFcontrols=0.0093), a risk variant in ABI3 (rs616338/p.S209F, P=4.56×10-10, OR=1.43, MAFcases=0.011, MAFcontrols=0.008), and a novel GWS variant in TREM2 (rs143332484/p.R62H, P=1.55×10-14, OR=1.67, MAFcases=0.0143, MAFcontrols=0.0089), a known AD susceptibility gene. These protein-coding changes are in genes highly expressed in microglia and highlight an immune-related protein-protein interaction network enriched for previously identified AD risk genes. These genetic findings provide additional evidence that the microglia-mediated innate immune response contributes directly to AD development

A novel Alzheimer disease locus located near the gene encoding tau protein

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this recordAPOE ε4, the most significant genetic risk factor for Alzheimer disease (AD), may mask effects of other loci. We re-analyzed genome-wide association study (GWAS) data from the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project (IGAP) Consortium in APOE ε4+ (10 352 cases and 9207 controls) and APOE ε4- (7184 cases and 26 968 controls) subgroups as well as in the total sample testing for interaction between a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and APOE ε4 status. Suggestive associations (P<1 × 10-4) in stage 1 were evaluated in an independent sample (stage 2) containing 4203 subjects (APOE ε4+: 1250 cases and 536 controls; APOE ε4-: 718 cases and 1699 controls). Among APOE ε4- subjects, novel genome-wide significant (GWS) association was observed with 17 SNPs (all between KANSL1 and LRRC37A on chromosome 17 near MAPT) in a meta-analysis of the stage 1 and stage 2 data sets (best SNP, rs2732703, P=5·8 × 10-9). Conditional analysis revealed that rs2732703 accounted for association signals in the entire 100-kilobase region that includes MAPT. Except for previously identified AD loci showing stronger association in APOE ε4+ subjects (CR1 and CLU) or APOE ε4- subjects (MS4A6A/MS4A4A/MS4A6E), no other SNPs were significantly associated with AD in a specific APOE genotype subgroup. In addition, the finding in the stage 1 sample that AD risk is significantly influenced by the interaction of APOE with rs1595014 in TMEM106B (P=1·6 × 10-7) is noteworthy, because TMEM106B variants have previously been associated with risk of frontotemporal dementia. Expression quantitative trait locus analysis revealed that rs113986870, one of the GWS SNPs near rs2732703, is significantly associated with four KANSL1 probes that target transcription of the first translated exon and an untranslated exon in hippocampus (P≤1.3 × 10-8), frontal cortex (P≤1.3 × 10-9) and temporal cortex (P≤1.2 × 10-11). Rs113986870 is also strongly associated with a MAPT probe that targets transcription of alternatively spliced exon 3 in frontal cortex (P=9.2 × 10-6) and temporal cortex (P=2.6 × 10-6). Our APOE-stratified GWAS is the first to show GWS association for AD with SNPs in the chromosome 17q21.31 region. Replication of this finding in independent samples is needed to verify that SNPs in this region have significantly stronger effects on AD risk in persons lacking APOE ε4 compared with persons carrying this allele, and if this is found to hold, further examination of this region and studies aimed at deciphering the mechanism(s) are warranted

Determinants of White, non-Hispanic and Black, non-Hispanic urban school teachers' job satisfaction: Does relational demography matter?

Research suggests that heterogeneity in the racial and gender composition of groups can negatively influence group dynamics and group functioning. Given their diverse populations, urban schools are particularly susceptible to racial and cultural interactions that may support this body of research. These interactions potentially occur between teachers and principals, teachers and teachers, and teachers and students. This dissertation is a secondary data analysis of White and Black urban public school teachers using data taken from the restricted use 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). It examines the effects of relational demography on teacher job satisfaction adjusting for other known determinants of job satisfaction specified in a modified version of the Price-Mueller model of voluntary turnover. This model has been expanded to include a set of racial and gender congruency items between teachers and principals, teachers and teachers, and teachers and students which are indicators of relational demography. In addition, interactions between relational demography and teacher work-related attitudes are examined in order to illustrate potentially moderating effects of relational demography on teacher job satisfaction. Findings from the multivariate analyses in this dissertation support a body of literature linking school and teacher demographics as well as work-related attitudes (e.g. supervisor support, autonomy, procedural justice, job stress, and teacher-student relations) to job satisfaction. Findings from this dissertation also substantiate the hypothesis that certain dimensions of relational demography do, in fact, matter—and may matter more for White teachers than Black teachers in urban schools

Music Therapy and Child Welfare

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