Career anchors of North Carolina principals

Research has demonstrated that the principal is a key element in an effective school. Since it is important to retain capable leaders to run schools, the question exists as to why principals choose to remain in the principalship rather than to move up the organizational hierarchy or to leave the profession. This study was designed to determine if the anchor concept used in career development were applicable to the principalship. Specifically, the study was undertaken to determine if career anchors existed for principals and to uncover factors that influence the acceptance of these anchors. Principals from three North Carolina school districts were surveyed, and a total of 116 responded representing a response rate of 82 percent. A factor analysis of items previously used to identify career anchors in other professions resulted in the identification of seven career anchors for principals: variety, identity, autonomy, organizational security, technical competence, geographic security, and salary. Further analysis found that 94 of the 116 had at least one career anchor, and almost half of the principals were considered to have more than one anchor

Taking Inventory of the Creative Behavior Inventory: An Item Response Theory Analysis of the CBI

The original 90-item Creative Behavior Inventory (CBI) was a landmark self-report scale in creativity research, and the 28-item brief form developed nearly 20 years ago continues to be a popular measure of everyday creativity. Relatively little is known, however, about the psychometric properties of this widely used scale. In the current research, we conduct a detailed psychometric investigation into the 28-item CBI by applying methods from item response theory using a sample of 2,082 adults. Our investigation revealed several strengths of the current scale: excellent reliability, suitable dimensionality, appropriate item difficulty, and reasonably good item discrimination. Several areas for improvement were highlighted as well: (1) the four-point response scale should have fewer options; (2) a handful of items showed gender-based differential item functioning, indicating some gender bias; and (3) local dependence statistics revealed clusters of items that are redundant and could be trimmed. These analyses support the continued use of the CBI for assessing engagement in everyday creative behaviors but suggest that the CBI could benefit from thoughtful revision

Bacterial Community Profiling of Milk Samples as a Means to Understand Culture-Negative Bovine Clinical Mastitis

Inflammation and infection of bovine mammary glands, commonly known as mastitis, imposes significant losses each year in the dairy industry worldwide. While several different bacterial species have been identified as causative agents of mastitis, many clinical mastitis cases remain culture negative, even after enrichment for bacterial growth. To understand the basis for this increasingly common phenomenon, the composition of bacterial communities from milk samples was analyzed using culture independent pyrosequencing of amplicons of 16S ribosomal RNA genes (16S rDNA). Comparisons were made of the microbial community composition of culture negative milk samples from mastitic quarters with that of non-mastitic quarters from the same animals. Genomic DNA from culture-negative clinical and healthy quarter sample pairs was isolated, and amplicon libraries were prepared using indexed primers specific to the V1–V2 region of bacterial 16S rRNA genes and sequenced using the Roche 454 GS FLX with titanium chemistry. Evaluation of the taxonomic composition of these samples revealed significant differences in the microbiota in milk from mastitic and healthy quarters. Statistical analysis identified seven bacterial genera that may be mainly responsible for the observed microbial community differences between mastitic and healthy quarters. Collectively, these results provide evidence that cases of culture negative mastitis can be associated with bacterial species that may be present below culture detection thresholds used here. The application of culture-independent bacterial community profiling represents a powerful approach to understand long-standing questions in animal health and disease

Friedrich Hayek and his visits to Chile

F. A. Hayek took two trips to Chile, the first in 1977, the second in 1981. The visits were controversial. On the first trip he met with General Augusto Pinochet, who had led a coup that overthrew Salvador Allende in 1973. During his 1981 visit, Hayek gave interviews that were published in the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio and in which he discussed authoritarian regimes and the problem of unlimited democracy. After each trip, he complained that the western press had painted an unfair picture of the economic situation under the Pinochet regime. Drawing on archival material, interviews, and past research, we provide a full account of this controversial episode in Hayek’s life

Infectious Diseases Learning Unit: Understanding Advances in the Treatment of Latent Tuberculosis Infection Among People With Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading cause of death among people with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH). The diagnosis of latent TB infection (LTBI) and treatment with TB preventative therapy (TPT) can reduce morbidity and mortality in this population. Historically, isoniazid has been recommended for TPT in PWH due to the absence of drug-drug interactions with most antiretroviral therapy (ART). However, newer rifamycin-based regimens are safer, shorter in duration, associated with improved adherence, and may be as or more effective than isoniazid TPT. Current guidelines have significant heterogeneity in their recommendations for TPT regimens and acceptability of drug interactions with modern ART. In this Infectious Diseases learning unit, we review common questions on diagnosis, treatment, and drug interactions related to the management of LTBI among PWH

Research on gay and lesbian parenting: retrospect and prospect

Gay and lesbian parenting is a fertile research field with many important new developments in content and methodology over the last decade. Gay and lesbian parenting occurs in a wide diversity of famly constellations, yet the cultural context of lesbian and gay parenting is a neglected topic. The relative depth of knowledge of lesbian parenting is contrasted with the lack of research on gay male parenting across different routes to parenthood. Gay and lesbian parenting researchers have employed a wide variety of methodological designs in their investigations, and the field has benefited from the employment of quantitative and qualitative techniques to investigate developmental outcomes for children and increase understanding of the variety of experiences of gay and lesbian parenthood. This review highlights significant developments in the field and suggests new directions