Leadership Values and Acculturation among the Oglala Lakota Leadership

There are currently no research studies that investigate the relationship between acculturation and leadership values and practices among the Indigenous Tribes on the Northern Plains of the United States. The study was initiated because Native American Elders on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation were concerned that traditional altruistic leadership style was being lost in today\u27s Native American leadership practice. Accordingly, acculturation and servant leadership theories were used to guide the study. A sequential explanatory mixed methods design incorporated the use of quantitative data based on the Servant Leadership Profile (SLP) and the Native American Acculturation Scale. (NAAS). The study included 51 Oglala Sioux tribal leaders, program directors, elected officials and traditional headsmen. The NAAS measured the respondent\u27s orientation towards Native American versus dominant cultural values. The SLP measured the orientation towards the practice of servant leadership. The qualitative component involved interviews with 6 tribal leaders, 2 from each level of acculturation, to increase the understanding of the relationship between cultural orientation and leadership. The levels of acculturation were low, traditional (17.6%), moderate, bicultural (68.6%) and high, assimilated (13.7%). Qualitative themes revealed leadership values similar to servant leadership among all 6 respondents regardless of acculturation level. The bi-cultural participants identified in my study may create innovative ways of defining themselves and society itself for purposes of social change bridging the gap between divisions of traditional and assimilated individuals

Leveraging best practices in data governance: An organization-wide data inventory and mapping project to support a five year data strategy

Introduction The professional regulation sector is moving toward risk-informed approaches that require high quality data. A key component of a corporate 2017 Data Strategy is the implementation of a data inventory and mapping project to catalogue, centralize, document and govern data assets that support regulatory decisions, programs and operations. Objectives and Approach In a data rich organization, the goals of the data inventory are to: enhance authoritative data that support programs; identify data duplications/gaps; identify data sources, owners and users; and, apply consistent data management and standards organizationally. Routinely used data assets outside the large enterprise workflow system (excel/word files; databases; paper collections) were catalogued. Using data governance principles and a facilitated questionnaire, departmental data stewards were interviewed about their generated data. Questions included data purpose/sources/types/formats/owners, retention rates, analytical products, gaps and visions for a desired data state. A data mapping methodology highlighted data set and variable connections within and across departments. Results To date, over 40 staff members in 10 departments were identified as data content experts. In addition to data in the corporate enterprise system, over 80 unique datasets were identified. In 1 large department, over 2,000 data elements across 26 datasets were inventoried. Data mapping analysis revealed thematic data domains, including member demographics, outcomes, certifications, tracking and financial data, collected and held in multiple formats ((Microsoft Access, Excel, Word), SPSS, PDF, e-mails and paper documents). While 72% of the data elements were formatted numerically, approximately 8% were free text. Significant data redundancies across staff members and departments were revealed, as well as unstandardized variable naming conventions. Gaps analysis highlighted need for standardized, electronic data, where not available and data management training. Conclusion/Implications Customized data mapping reports to data users will facilitate the development of local, standardized departmental data hubs that will centrally link to a centralized data repository to facilitate seamless organization-wide analytics, improvements in current data management practices and greater data collaboration with the ultimate goal of supporting risk-informed approaches

Biomarkers of Nutrition for Development (BOND)—Iron Review

This is the fifth in the series of reviews developed as part of the Biomarkers of Nutrition for Development (BOND) program. The BOND Iron Expert Panel (I-EP) reviewed the extant knowledge regarding iron biology, public health implications, and the relative usefulness of currently available biomarkers of iron status from deficiency to overload. Approaches to assessing intake, including bioavailability, are also covered. The report also covers technical and laboratory considerations for the use of available biomarkers of iron status, and concludes with a description of research priorities along with a brief discussion of new biomarkers with potential for use across the spectrum of activities related to the study of iron in human health. The I-EP concluded that current iron biomarkers are reliable for accurately assessing many aspects of iron nutrition. However, a clear distinction is made between the relative strengths of biomarkers to assess hematological consequences of iron deficiency versus other putative functional outcomes, particularly the relationship between maternal and fetal iron status during pregnancy, birth outcomes, and infant cognitive, motor and emotional development. The I-EP also highlighted the importance of considering the confounding effects of inflammation and infection on the interpretation of iron biomarker results, as well as the impact of life stage. Finally, alternative approaches to the evaluation of the risk for nutritional iron overload at the population level are presented, because the currently designated upper limits for the biomarker generally employed (serum ferritin) may not differentiate between true iron overload and the effects of subclinical inflammation

Equilibrium gas-phase structures of sodium fluoride, bromide, and iodide monomers and dimers

The alkali halides sodium fluoride, sodium bromide, and sodium iodide exist in the gas phase as both monomer and dimer species. A reanalysis of gas electron diffraction (GED) data collected earlier has been undertaken for each of these molecules using the EXPRESS method to yield experimental equilibrium structures. EXPRESS allows amplitudes of vibration to be estimated and correction terms to be applied to each pair of atoms in the refinement model. These quantities are calculated from the ab initio potential-energy surfaces corresponding to the vibrational modes of the monomer and dimer. Because they include many of the effects associated with large-amplitude modes of vibration and anharmonicity, we have been able to determine highly accurate experimental structures. These results are found to be in good agreement with those from high-level core-valence ab initio calculations and are substantially more precise than those obtained in previous structural studies