Communities in Conflict: Resolving Differences Through Collaborative Efforts in Environmental Planning and Human Service Delivery

Increasingly, public administrators and managers in the fields of human service and environmental planning have been exploring new avenues to resolve complex and seemingly intractable public problems. Confronting such controversial issues as land management plans, common-pool resources, endangered species, welfare reform, health care and immigration are requiring new and more innovative ways of doing business-ways in which problem-solving and leadership is a shared pursuit of governmental agencies and concerned citizens. Since collaborative efforts in these arenas have recently reemerged as one avenue to resolve complex policy disputes, it is premature to give an accurate assessment of their long term viability. This research contributes to the emerging data base on collaboration by analyzing two successful case studies within the fields of environmental planning and human service delivery: The Clark County Habitat Conservation Plan for the Desert Tortoise and The Family Preservation and Family Support Program. Both groups demonstrate how affected parties can craft solutions through collaboration, dialogue and engagement. The collaborative planning of these two groups succeeded where many other groups dealing with the same or similar issues have failed. Given the right mixture of urgency, lack of better options, and committed and dynamic participants, solutions are possible. Through both qualitative and quantitative techniques, this study focuses on factors contributing to their success, limitations of these efforts, and possibilities for improving this method of handling, and ultimately resolving complex community issues

Gay and Lesbian Adoptions: A Theoretical Examination of Policy-Making and Organizational Decision Making

Most of the inquiry into gay and lesbian adoptions has focused on the rights of this population toadopt, the constitutional issues surrounding gay and lesbian parenting, and the outcomes of children raised by homosexual parents. There has been scant focus at the policy-making or organizational level on this issue. Why have public adoption agencies failed to provide either regulation or written policy on the topic of adoption of children by gays and lesbians? This article pursues a theoretical examination of policy-making and organizational decision making to explore this issue. Additionally, a survey was distributed to adoption officials in each of thefifty (50) states requesting information about the placement of children in adoptive homes of lesbian and gay adults. This examination, coupled with a survey of the child welfare agencies, provides the framework for this analysis. The results of this survey and the policy implications are discussed

Predictors of Municipal Bankruptcies and State Intervention Programs: An Exploratory Study

Why do some struggling cities file for bankruptcy while others, facing simiar circumstances, do not? This Article builds on the literature examining the causes and consequences ofmunicipal fiscal distress by exploring specific factors that lead municipalities to seek help from the state and federal government. Viewing municipal opportunities and constraints through political, economic, and legal lenses, this Article helps to explain the nuances ofmunicival decision making. After identifiing eight factors that may serve as predctors of municipal insolvency, the authors studied cities in Fiscal distress with an eye toward uncovering the circumstances that led each of these cities into and—if applicable—out of their financial predicaments. Union density unfunded pension iabilty, and financial mismanagement were the three most prevalent factors in the authors\u27 sample population. The analysis suggests that scholars and policymakers should focus their efforts on using bankruptcy relief conjunction with state aid programs in order to address these primary sources of municipal distress in a more comprehensive manner

Concurrent panel session 2: Health challenges facing Las Vegas

Moderator: Marcia Turner, NSHE Health Science System Scribe: Candace Griffith, UNLV Department of Sociology Conference white paper & Full summary of panel session, 8 page

Intermediate-severity wind disturbance in mature temperate forests: legacy structure, carbon storage, and stand dynamics

Wind is one of the most important natural disturbances influencing forest structure, ecosystem function, and successional processes worldwide. This study quantifies the stand-scale effects of intermediate-severity windstorms (i.e., blowdowns) on (1) live and dead legacy structure, (2) aboveground carbon storage, and (3) tree regeneration and associated stand dynamics at four mature, mixed hardwood–conifer forest sites in the northeastern United States. We compare wind-affected forests to adjacent reference conditions (i.e., undisturbed portions of the same stands) 0–8 yr post-blowdown using parametric (ANOVA) and nonparametric (NMS ordination) analyses. We supplement inventory plots and downed coarse woody detritus (DCWD) transects with hemispherical photography to capture spatial variation in the light environment. Although recent blowdowns transferred a substantial proportion of live overstory trees to DCWD, residual live tree basal area was high (19–59% of reference areas). On average, the initial post-blowdown ratio of DCWD carbon to standing live tree carbon was 2.72 in blowdown stands and 0.18 in reference stands, indicating a large carbon transfer from live to dead pools. Despite these dramatic changes, structural complexity remained high in blowdown areas, as indicated by the size and species distributions of overstory trees, abundance of sound and rotten downed wood, spatial patterns of light availability, and variability of understory vegetation. Furthermore, tree species composition was similar between blowdown and reference areas at each site, with generally shade-tolerant species dominating across multiple canopy strata. Community response to intermediate-severity blowdown at these sites suggests a dynamic in which disturbance maintains late-successional species composition rather than providing a regeneration opportunity for shade-intolerant, pioneer species. Our findings suggest that intermediate-severity wind disturbances can contribute to stand-scale structural complexity as well as development toward late-successional species composition, at least when shade-tolerant regeneration is present pre-blowdown. Advance regeneration thus enhances structural and compositional resilience to this type of disturbance. This study provides a baseline for multi-cohort silvicultural systems designed to restore heterogeneity associated with natural disturbance dynamics

2021 Update of the International Council for Standardization in Haematology Recommendations for Laboratory Measurement of Direct Oral Anticoagulants

International audienceIn 2018, the International Council for Standardization in Haematology (ICSH) published a consensus document providing guidance for laboratories on measuring direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs). Since that publication, several significant changes related to DOACs have occurred, including the approval of a new DOAC by the Food and Drug Administration, betrixaban, and a specific DOAC reversal agent intended for use when the reversal of anticoagulation with apixaban or rivaroxaban is needed due to life-threatening or uncontrolled bleeding, andexanet alfa. In addition, this ICSH Working Party recognized areas where additional information was warranted, including patient population considerations and updates in point-of-care testing. The information in this manuscript supplements our previous ICSH DOAC laboratory guidance document. The recommendations provided are based on (1) information from peer-reviewed publications about laboratory measurement of DOACs, (2) contributing author's personal experience/expert opinion and (3) good laboratory practice

Climate-Mediated Changes to Linked Terrestrial and Marine Ecosystems across the Northeast Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest Margin

Coastal margins are important areas of materials flux that link terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Consequently, climate-mediated changes to coastal terrestrial ecosystems and hydrologic regimes have high potential to influence nearshore ocean chemistry and food web dynamics. Research from tightly coupled, high-flux coastal ecosystems can advance understanding of terrestrial–marine links and climate sensitivities more generally. In the present article, we use the northeast Pacific coastal temperate rainforest as a model system to evaluate such links. We focus on key above- and belowground production and hydrological transport processes that control the land-to-ocean flow of materials and their influence on nearshore marine ecosystems. We evaluate how these connections may be altered by global climate change and we identify knowledge gaps in our understanding of the source, transport, and fate of terrestrial materials along this coastal margin. Finally, we propose five priority research themes in this region that are relevant for understanding coastal ecosystem links more broadly.Ye

Robust rapid-setting antibacterial liquid bandages

Abstract: Bandaging is a steadfast but time-consuming component of wound care with limited technical advancements to date. Bandages must be changed and infection risk managed. Rapid-set liquid bandages are efficient alternatives but lack durability or inherent infection control. We show here that antibacterial zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) species greatly enhance the barrier properties of the natural, waterproof, bio-adhesive polymer, shellac. The material demonstrated marked antibacterial contact properties and, in ex-vivo studies, effectively locked-in pre-applied therapeutics. When challenged in vivo with the polybacterial bovine wound infection ‘digital dermatitis’, Zn/Cu-shellac adhered rapidly and robustly over pre-applied antibiotic. The bandage self-degraded, appropriately, over 7 days despite extreme conditions (faecal slurry). Treatment was well-tolerated and clinical improvement was observed in animal mobility. This new class of bandage has promise for challenging topical situations in humans and other animals, especially away from controlled, sterile clinical settings where wounds urgently require protection from environmental and bacterial contamination