Chapter 6- The Mentoring Context: Securing Institutional Support and Organizational Alignment

A university’s mission and vision statements are the guiding documents that create a framework by which the institution can accomplish its goals. All university initiatives are tied back to that mission and vision, and alignment is essential for university support of bottom-up initiatives. No matter how mentoring is structured, one area that is essential is proper internal institutional support and alignment with the mission of the institution. Focusing on the context in which the formal mentoring program occurs, this chapter outlines the importance of executive support, mission and vision alignment, incentivizing participation for both mentors and mentees, and how mentoring can fit into larger retention efforts. This chapter discusses the resources necessary to create a program as well as the stakeholders necessary to create a successful, institutionally supported program. In addition, the chapter will focus on challenges, barriers, and pitfalls that administrators should consider as they undertake a mentoring program. This chapter stresses the importance of the organization to make explicit the goals, objectives, and outcomes. It also highlights the often-overlooked alignment between the individual and university outcomes. When a university creates programming that aligns with the vision and mission of the university, aligns with the goals and initiatives of the university, and has clear support of leaders on both the faculty and administrative side, the chances for success of those initiatives goes up significantly. A formalized mentoring program is no different, and this chapter uses research, observation, and specific experiences to outline the framework, processes and barriers and pitfalls that institutions may encounter on the path to creating an intentional, mission aligned mentoring program. While many aspects of this process are vital, this chapter will focus on the belief that proper administrative support, buy-in and alignment with university mission, vision, and goals are essential for this process. No amount of work in any other area can compensate for lack of institutional support

Technical guide on documentation requirements for open market contract acquisitions of information resources

A guide is presented to assist requestors in formulating and submitting the required Complete Package for Information Resources (IR) acquisitions. Advance discussions with cognizant procurement personnel are strongly recommended for complex IR requirements or for those requestors new to the acquisition process. Open Market means the requirement either is not available on GSA Schedule Contract or exceeds the $300,000 threshold and/or the quantity Maximum Order Limitation of the GSA Schedule Contract. Only open market contract acquisitions (i.e., in excess of the$25,000 small purchase threshold), are addressed

Friend or foe? Evolutionary history of glycoside hydrolase family 32 genes encoding for sucrolytic activity in fungi and its implications for plant-fungal symbioses

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Coupled Replicator Equations for the Dynamics of Learning in Multiagent Systems

Starting with a group of reinforcement-learning agents we derive coupled replicator equations that describe the dynamics of collective learning in multiagent systems. We show that, although agents model their environment in a self-interested way without sharing knowledge, a game dynamics emerges naturally through environment-mediated interactions. An application to rock-scissors-paper game interactions shows that the collective learning dynamics exhibits a diversity of competitive and cooperative behaviors. These include quasiperiodicity, stable limit cycles, intermittency, and deterministic chaos--behaviors that should be expected in heterogeneous multiagent systems described by the general replicator equations we derive.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, http://www.santafe.edu/projects/CompMech/papers/credlmas.html; updated references, corrected typos, changed conten

Designing and Implementing a Land-Grant Faculty-to-Student Mentoring Program: Addressing Shortcomings in Academic Mentoring

Mentoring programs at universities have become common because of the perceived benefit to student persistence and retention. Evaluation of the effectiveness of these programs has not kept pace, primarily due to the following three problematic issues: (1) lack of theoretical guidance, (2) lack of an operational definition of mentoring, and (3) lack of methodological rigor. This article describes the evolution of a regional Faculty-to-Student Mentoring program into a statewide program, and how it addressed each of these three problematic issues. Using logic modeling, the intimate connections between theory, operational definitions, and sound methodology are made explicit, thereby addressing many of the shortcomings of previous mentoring programs. By addressing these shortcomings, universities can better evaluate if mentoring programs should be part of the overall strategic plan to help students be successful

Simulations of a Variable Friction Device for Multihazard Mitigation

This paper investigates the performance of a novel semiactive damping device at mitigating nonsimultaneous multihazard loads. The device, termed modified friction device (MFD), has been previously proposed by the authors. It consists of a variable friction system based on automotive drum brake technology. The device has been demonstrated in a laboratory environment, and its dynamic behavior has been modeled. This model is used to conduct numerical simulations on two representative structures, one short building located in Japan and the other tall building located in Boston, MA. Simulated hazards include wind, blast, and seismic loads. Various control cases are considered, including semiactive control under five different sets of control weights, and passive viscous and passive friction to benchmark performance. Results show that the semiactive control cases outperforms all of the other cases for the vast majority of hazards and performance indices, provided that the right control weights are utilized

Criteria for the use of omics-based predictors in clinical trials.

The US National Cancer Institute (NCI), in collaboration with scientists representing multiple areas of expertise relevant to 'omics'-based test development, has developed a checklist of criteria that can be used to determine the readiness of omics-based tests for guiding patient care in clinical trials. The checklist criteria cover issues relating to specimens, assays, mathematical modelling, clinical trial design, and ethical, legal and regulatory aspects. Funding bodies and journals are encouraged to consider the checklist, which they may find useful for assessing study quality and evidence strength. The checklist will be used to evaluate proposals for NCI-sponsored clinical trials in which omics tests will be used to guide therapy

The combined effects of genetic risk and perceived discrimination on blood pressure among African Americans in the Jackson Heart Study

Both genomics and environmental stressors play a significant role in increases in blood pressure (BP). In an attempt to further explain the hypertension (HTN) disparity among African Americans (AA), both genetic underpinnings (selected candidate genes) and stress due to perceived racial discrimination (as reported in the literature) have independently been linked to increased BP among AAs. Although Gene x Environment interactions on BP have been examined, the environmental component of these investigations has focused more on lifestyle behaviors such as smoking, diet, and physical activity, and less on psychosocial stressors such as perceived discrimination

Bone turnover and metabolite responses to exercise in people with and without long-duration type 1 diabetes: a case-control study

INTRODUCTION: Exercise acutely alters markers of bone resorption and formation. As risk of fracture is increased in patients with type 1 diabetes, understanding if exercise-induced bone turnover is affected within this population is prudent. We assessed bone turnover responses to acute exercise in individuals with long-duration type 1 diabetes and matched controls. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Participants with type 1 diabetes (n=15; age: 38.7±13.3; glycosylated hemoglobin: 60.5±6.7 mmol/mol; diabetes duration: 19.3±11.4 years) and age-matched, fitness-matched, and body mass index-matched controls (n=15) completed 45 min of incline walking (60% peak oxygen uptake). Blood samples were collected at baseline and immediately, 30 min, and 60 min postexercise. Markers of bone resorption (β-C-terminal cross-linked telopeptide of type 1 collagen, β-CTx) and formation (procollagen type-1 amino-terminal propeptide, P1NP), parathyroid hormone (PTH), phosphate, and calcium (albumin-adjusted and ionized) were measured. Data (mean±SD) were analyzed by a mixed-model analysis of variance. RESULTS: Baseline concentrations of P1NP and β-CTx were comparable between participants with type 1 diabetes and controls. P1NP did not change with exercise (p=0.20) but β-CTx decreased (p0.39). Participants with type 1 diabetes had reduced albumin and ionized calcium at all sample points (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Following exercise, participants with type 1 diabetes displayed similar time-course changes in markers of bone formation and associated metabolites, but an attenuated suppression in bone resorption. The reduced albumin and ionized calcium may have implications for future bone health. Further investigation of the interactions between type 1 diabetes, differing modalities and intensities of exercise, and bone health is warranted

Aromatherapy Use for Post-operative Nausea and Vomiting for Patients Undergoing Same-day Surgeries

Description: Nausea and vomiting are frequent complications of anesthesia post-operatively. There is an increased prevalence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in patients undergoing intra-abdominal and gynecologic surgeries. Many injectable and enteral medications are available for the prevention and treatment of PONV, each with the potential for side effects. Utilization of medications requires a provider order, which has the potential to delay initiation of therapy. The use of aromatherapy via inhalation for the treatment of PONV has been shown to eliminate nausea in up to 85% of patients. Patients have reported perceived effectiveness and favorable improvement with the use of aromatherapy for post-operative nausea. Aromatherapy products have been shown to be well tolerated with no adverse effects, drug interactions, or contraindications. Aim: To study the effectiveness of QueaseEASE® aromatherapy pods in the treatment of PONV in patients undergoing same-day intra-abdominal surgeries or hysterectomies. Intervention: We distributed 100 QueaseEASE® pods to patients scheduled for same-day intra-abdominal surgeries or hysterectomies. Informed consent was obtained preoperatively. Up to 24 hours after recovery, patients were instructed to document their episodes of nausea, severity at onset and severity 30 minutes after pod use. The severity of nausea was recorded using the visual analogue scale (0-100) where zero indicates no nausea and 100 indicates unbearable nausea. Use of traditional antiemetic medications was not excluded pursuant to individual provider practice. Data for concomitant antiemetic medication use was also recorded, including medication type, dose and frequency. Summary of Results: Results pending