Whistleblowing: the inside story - a study of the experiences of 1,000 whistleblowers

This report presents the findings of a collaborative research project by the University of Greenwich and Public Concern at Work, on how the whistleblowing process develops from internal to external whistleblowing. Data consists of 1,000 cases from the Public Concern at Work advice line

National Youth-At-Risk Conference, West Program [2016]

Not available

2017 National Youth At Risk, West Conference Program

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Nutritional manipulation of HIV/AIDS: the effects of ergothioneine and cultural complementary and alternative medicines on HIV

The use of complementary and alternative medicine in minority populations in individuals infected with HIV is prevalent and these cultural practices require laboratory confirmation to determine effectiveness. The manipulation of HIV via nutritional supplementation could provide insight to the efficacy of cultural remedies. Ergothioneine, a compound derived from mushrooms and a naturally occurring amino acid, was used as a positive control due to its confirmed ability to decrease HIV promoter-driven gene expression via inhibition of the NF-?B transcription factor. Four herbal remedies, which are purported to prevent or treat HIV infection by Black and Latino HIV patients and uninfected individuals, were also tested for antiviral properties. Ergothioneine, Hypoxis hemerocallidea, Sutherlandia frutescens, Opuntia ficus-indica, and Uncaria tomentosa were liquefied and used to prepare serial dilutions. The dilutions were used to treat CEM-GFP cells in cytotoxicity assays to determine ideal concentrations for treatments, that alone (i.e. in the absence of virus) had minimal effects on GFP expression. Once concentrations of each treatment were elected, CEM-GFP cells were cultured in the presence of the dilutions, followed 24 hrs. later by HIV infection and monitoring for GFP expression. In this system, increased GFP fluorescence signifies stimulation of HIV replication, and decreases in GFP fluorescence signifies inhibition of HIV replication. The results suggested that ergothioneine, Hypoxis hemerocallidea, and Sutherlandia frutescens prevented HIV proliferation post-infection while Opuntia ficus-indica and Uncaria tomentosa both stabilized cells prior to infection and inhibited HIV proliferation post-infection

Legal aspects relating to handicapped students in physical education and athletics

This investigative study deals with the legal aspects of handicapped children in physical education and athletics. Congressional legislation is given showing those public laws that were used as stepping stones leading to the finalizing of The Education For All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, Public Law 94-142. A summary of the federal mandates that give specific references to students' rights, parents' rights, and procedural due process is highlighted. Court cases are cited showing the major causes of dispute within the educational system dealing with handicapped children. Decisions have been reached in the following areas: procedural due process, free appropriate public education, placement in the least restrictive environment, educational cost to parents, and the discrimination against athletes based solely on their handicapped conditions. General summary and conclusions were based on existing court decisions that should be of value of all educational decision-makers

The daily lives of principals: twenty-one principals in the 21st century

This is a qualitative dissertation study about the daily work lives of 21 school principals from 10 states across the nation. The study tells the story of the principals' work lives by featuring their voices. Since the inception of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the principalship has become a position with increased responsibilities and restricted control in an environment of persistent accountability (West, Peck & Reitzug, in-press). This study is a follow up to the previous study (West, Peck & Reitzug,in-press) which revealed spiraling stress-loads in the daily work of 17 principals from one school district. This dissertation study identifies 6 characteristics that most describe principals' work lives. In addition, 5 contextual conditions are identified that principals say most impact their work. Finally, this dissertation describes how principals are impacted by stress in their daily work lives, but also notes the fulfillment principals said makes their work rewarding and worthwhile. All levels of K-12 education and racial and gender diversity are represented in the study sample. This study will help educators understand principal perspectives during the first decade of the 21st century--a time when many principals are leaving the principalship position

An Exploration of State Legislator Communication Technology Use and Importance

This article explores the importance and communication frequency associated with legislator use of communication technologies (CTs). Demographic variations are examined. Our results suggest that significant complexity surrounds legislator utilization of CTs for their interactions with peers and constituents. For example, we conclude that: 1) legislators find mature CTs more important than Internet enabled CTs, 2) legislator age and years in office impact the use of CTs, with older and younger legislators communicating less frequently, 3) gender is not a significant differentiator in CT use or importance, and 4) minority party legislators communicate more frequently than their majority party counterparts

An Examination of State Legislator Use of Communication Technologies: Differences Between the Frequency of Use and Importance of Mature and Internet Enabled Technologies

This paper explores the relationships between state legislators and communication technology (CT). A United States wide survey sent to all 7,3831 state legislators examines the frequency of use and importance of CTs commonly used by state legislators. Among other variables examined, this study compares the frequency of use and importance of evolutionarily mature CTs such as face-to-face meetings, handwritten letters, and phone conversations and Internet enabled CTs (IECTs) such as E-Mail, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, web pages, Blogs, and text messaging. Additionally, this study examines the impact of minority political party status on CT frequency of use and importance. Among other findings, this study uncovers evidence that minority status increases both CT frequency of use and importance and that while Internet enabled CTs are frequently used, state legislators place significantly more importance on traditional (mature CTs) than IECTs

Hypersensitivity to threat in paranoid personality

Three groups of detoxified substance abuse inpatients, characterized by DSM-III-R criteria as Paranoid or Antisocial Personality Disorder, or no personality disorder, were compared in responses to six variations of the Stroop color-naming task designed to assess hypothesized attentional and discriminative aspects of paranoid hypersensitivity by incorporating threat and five types of non-threat control words as stimuli. Results supported experimental predictions that Paranoid Personality Disorder subjects would show greater differential increases in color-naming times on the Stroop task involving social threat words, relative to performance on tasks using matched non-threatening stimuli. This specific interference effect was not evidenced in the reponses of the non-paranoid groups. Comparison of performance on a subsequent recognition task indicated that Paranoid Personality Disorder subjects showed significant differences in ability to recognize previously-seen threat versus non-threat words, relative to remaining subjects. Signal detection analysis of results indicated that the Paranoid group demonstrated significantly reduced ability to discriminate among threat words, whereas non-paranoid comparison subjects tended to show maximum discriminability indices with threat-related material. These findings have implications for current formulations of paranoid disorders and personality

Effect Of The Catch Position On Power Characteristics In Snatch Derivatives

This study investigates precipitation delivery using the first detailed radar measurements of the vertical structure of precipitation obtained in the tropical Andes of southern Peru and Bolivia. A vertically pointing 24.1 GHz Micro Rain Radar in Cusco, Peru (3,350 m asl, August 2014-February 2015) and La Paz, Bolivia (3,440 m asl, October 2015-February 2017) provided continuous 1-min profiles of reflectivity and Doppler velocity during the respective time periods. Additional datasets collected include thermodynamic profiles from rawinsonde releases, hourly observations of various meteorological variables, and backward air trajectories from the NOAA HYSPLIT model. The vertically-pointing radar time-height data reveal a bimodal diurnal cycle in precipitation with cellular convection predominant in the afternoon and stratiform precipitation predominant overnight. Backward air trajectories for two stratiform case studies indicate that low-level flow originated in the Amazon basin three days prior to the events. Median melting layer heights were above the altitude of nearby glacier termini (~5,000 m) approximately 17% of the time in Cusco and 30% of the time in La Paz, indicating that some precipitation is falling as rain rather than snow on nearby glacier surfaces. Melting layer heights were highest in La Paz during the 2015-16 El Niño (47% above 5,000 m)