Transgender Students and Policy in K–12 Public Schools: Acknowledging Historical Harms and Taking Steps Toward a Promising Future

Transgender and nonbinary (collectively referred to here as &ldquo;trans&rdquo;) students are ill-served by most school environments. They experience challenges trying to navigate institutions that, at best, are poorly designed to support them and that often work against them. Although some districts and states have developed laws and policies to improve students&rsquo; experiences, many are either ill-conceived, ineffectively implemented, or reinforce restrictive and inflexible structures regulating gender. This brief explores these issues in depth and puts forth recommendations for policy and practice to create spaces in which transgender youth can fully engage with school.</p

Switching from serum to plasma: Implementation of BD Vacutainer® Barricor™ Plasma Blood Collection Tubes improves sample quality and laboratory turnaround time

Background: For blood, most 24/7 standard (immuno)chemistry parameters are either measured in serum or in lithium heparin plasma. Standard serum and plasma gel tubes have their shortcomings when timely analysis of high quality results is required. Serum requires clotting time and interference of gel globules in the plasma and adsorption of hydrophobic analytes into the gel layer potentially compromises high quality results from lithium heparin gel tubes. We sought to evaluate the impact of BD Vacutainer® Barricor™ Tube (Barricor™) on laboratory efficiency by measuring its effect on TAT and sample quality, as well as evaluate potential cost opportunities resulting from improved sample quality. Methods: TAT data and remediation activities were extracted and captured during two 6 months phases. Serum was used as the predominant matrix in the first phase and Barricor™ plasma was used in the second phase. Results: Barricor™ significantly reduced the median TAT, especially for routine-priority samples during peak-hours. The TAT key-performance-indicator (percentage of results available within 90 ​min) improved to >90% for STAT as well as routine priority samples. Converting from serum gel, Barricor™ reduced fibrin-related remediation activities from 2.3% to 0.4%. This resulted in remediation-related cost reduction of €6.010,47 over the study period. Conclusions: By implementing Barricor™, we saw a significant reduction in TAT and a reduction in fibrin-related remediation time and costs, when compared to a predominant serum workflow. The improved TAT opens up the possibility of consolidating to one single priority level, eliminating the need for the use of the STAT priority level

Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems: Cold Outer Disks Associated with Sun-like stars

We present the discovery of debris systems around three solar mass stars based upon observations performed with the Spitzer Space Telescope as part of a Legacy Science Program, ``the Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems'' (FEPS). We also confirm the presence of debris around two other stars. All the stars exhibit infrared emission in excess of the expected photospheres in the 70 micron band, but are consistent with photospheric emission at <= 33 micron. This restricts the maximum temperature of debris in equilibrium with the stellar radiation to T < 70 K. We find that these sources are relatively old in the FEPS sample, in the age range 0.7 - 3 Gyr. Based on models of the spectral energy distributions, we suggest that these debris systems represent materials generated by collisions of planetesimal belts. We speculate on the nature of these systems through comparisons to our own Kuiper Belt, and on the likely planet(s) responsible for stirring the system and ultimately releasing dust through collisions. We further report observations of a nearby star HD 13974 (d =11 pc) that is indistinguishable from a bare photosphere at both 24 micron and 70 micron. The observations place strong upper limits on the presence of any cold dust in this nearby system (L_IR/L_* < 10^{-5.2}).Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Restoring Rivers One Reach at a Time: Results from a Survey of U.S. River Restoration Practitioners

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72915/1/j.1526-100X.2007.00244.x.pd

Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory - Preliminary Design Report

The DUSEL Project has produced the Preliminary Design of the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) at the rehabilitated former Homestake mine in South Dakota. The Facility design calls for, on the surface, two new buildings - one a visitor and education center, the other an experiment assembly hall - and multiple repurposed existing buildings. To support underground research activities, the design includes two laboratory modules and additional spaces at a level 4,850 feet underground for physics, biology, engineering, and Earth science experiments. On the same level, the design includes a Department of Energy-shepherded Large Cavity supporting the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment. At the 7,400-feet level, the design incorporates one laboratory module and additional spaces for physics and Earth science efforts. With input from some 25 science and engineering collaborations, the Project has designed critical experimental space and infrastructure needs, including space for a suite of multidisciplinary experiments in a laboratory whose projected life span is at least 30 years. From these experiments, a critical suite of experiments is outlined, whose construction will be funded along with the facility. The Facility design permits expansion and evolution, as may be driven by future science requirements, and enables participation by other agencies. The design leverages South Dakota's substantial investment in facility infrastructure, risk retirement, and operation of its Sanford Laboratory at Homestake. The Project is planning education and outreach programs, and has initiated efforts to establish regional partnerships with underserved populations - regional American Indian and rural populations

Design and Creative Methods as a Practice of Liminality in Community-Academic Research Projects

This paper aims to explore the types of spaces and experiences that are created by design and creative practices. More specifically, it focuses on how design and creative practices can engender transformations in the mindset, knowledge, emotions and social relations of people who participate in such practices. To do this, the paper investigates the concepts of liminality and liminal spaces, and the relationships between design/creative methods and liminal spaces using insights from four case studies. The results reveal that design and creative practices may create liminal spaces in many ways, such as neutralizing the working environments, encouraging people to experiment with new ideas and helping them express themselves more freely

The Value Proposition of the Global Health Security Index

Infectious disease outbreaks pose major threats to human health and security. Countries with robust capacities for preventing, detecting and responding to outbreaks can avert many of the social, political, economic and health system costs of such crises. The Global Health Security Index (GHS Index)—the first comprehensive assessment and benchmarking of health security and related capabilities across 195 countries—recently found that no country is sufficiently prepared for epidemics or pandemics. The GHS Index can help health security stakeholders identify areas of weakness, as well as opportunities to collaborate across sectors, collectively strengthen health systems and achieve shared public health goals. Some scholars have recently offered constructive critiques of the GHS Index’s approach to scoring and ranking countries; its weighting of select indicators; its emphasis on transparency; its focus on biosecurity and biosafety capacities; and divergence between select country scores and corresponding COVID-19-associated caseloads, morbidity, and mortality. Here, we (1) describe the practical value of the GHS Index; (2) present potential use cases to help policymakers and practitioners maximise the utility of the tool; (3) discuss the importance of scoring and ranking; (4) describe the robust methodology underpinning country scores and ranks; (5) highlight the GHS Index’s emphasis on transparency and (6) articulate caveats for users wishing to use GHS Index data in health security research, policymaking and practice

A model for (re)building consumer trust in the food system

This manuscript version is made available per the publisher's Author self-archiving policy. Copyright © The Authors 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.The article presents a best practice model that can be utilized by food system actors to assist with (re)building trust in the food system, before, during and after a food incident defined as ‘any situation within the food supply chain where there is a risk or potential risk of illness or confirmed illness or injury associated with the consumption of a food or foods’ (Commonwealth of Australia. National Food Incident Response Protocol. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2012). Interviews were undertaken with 105 actors working within the media, food industry and food regulatory settings across Australia, New Zealand (NZ) and the United Kingdom (UK). Interview data produced strategy statements, which indicated participant views on how to (re)build consumer trust in the food system. These included: (i) be transparent, (ii) have protocols and procedures in place, (iii) be credible, (iv) be proactive, (v) put consumers first, (vi) collaborate with stakeholders, (vii) be consistent, (viii) educate stakeholders and consumers, (ix) build your reputation and (x) keep your promises. A survey was designed to enable participants to indicate their agreement/disagreement with the ideas, rate their importance and provide further comment. The five strategies considered key to (re)building consumer trust were used to develop a model demonstrating best practice strategies for (re)building consumer trust in the food system before, during and after a food incident. In a world where the food system is increasingly complex, strategies for (re)building and fostering consumer trust are important. This study offers a model to do so which is derived from the views and experiences of actors working across the food industry, food regulation and the media