Reality Check: Seventeen Million Reasons Low-Wage Workers Need Strong Protection from Harrassment

In a recent five-to-four decision in Vance v. Ball State University, the Supreme Court watered down workplace protections from harassment. The Court held that supervisors who direct daily work activities - but lack the power to hire and fire - are mere coworkers, and that the tougher legal standard that applies in cases of coworker harassment also applies to harassment by these lower-level supervisors. The Court's cramped definition of supervisor ignores workplace realities, with negative consequences for millions of workers.The reality is that most lower-level supervisors have significant authority over their subordinates, even though they do not have the power to hire and fire. The report provides new data analysis showing that there are more than three million of these lower-level supervisors for more than 17 million low-wage workers - virtually all of the low-wage workforce. And another three million lower-level supervisors oversee millions of workers who do not earn low wages.The Vance decision puts all workers who are harassed by lower-level supervisors between a rock and a hard place. And it may be particularly damaging to workers in low-wage jobs who are very likely to report to a lower-level supervisor and especially vulnerable to harassment. These workers know that they may be putting their jobs on the line by reporting harassment. For those still willing to take the brave step of trying to hold their employers accountable despite the risk involved, they now stand a good chance of having their cases thrown out for failure to meet the definition of supervisor adopted in Vance. And their employers have fewer incentives to prevent and remedy harassment by lower-level supervisors, making harassment more likely to occur. The Center's report documents how the Vance decision is divorced from current workplace realities, with a particular focus on the low-wage workplace. The report offers a glimpse into the post-Vance future by chronicling cases of egregious harassment by lower-level supervisors in which women lost in court because the courts held that their harassers were coworkers, rather than supervisors. The report then highlights practical steps that Congress, states, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission can take to address the mismatch between current law and workplace realities

Elucidating the molecular basis of a novel autosomal dominant fibrotic syndrome

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-103).A novel fibrotic syndrome was recently reported in a South African family, characterised by poikiloderma, tendon contracture and progressive pulmonary fibrosis. The pathological hallmark of this autosomal dominant condition is abnormal fibrosis of the skin, tendons and viscera, with variable penetrance. A candidate gene approach was adopted to investigate the molecular basis of this disease

Novel cell models for the study of spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 pathogenesis and therapy in a South African patient cohort

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.Spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) is a dominantly-inherited neurodegenerative disease, resulting from a CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion in the ataxin-7 gene. The Ataxin-7 protein is known to play a role in transcriptional regulation through association with cellular histone acetylation complexes, and several studies have highlighted the role of transcriptional dysregulation, caused by the presence of mutant Ataxin-7, in the neuronal dysfunction that precedes the onset of disease symptoms.This study aimed to establish patient-derived cell models of SCA7, for use in the investigation of pathogenesis (with particular reference to transcriptional alterations), and in the evaluation of previously-developed therapies for the disease.The high prevalence of SCA7 in the South African population, as a result of a founder effect, makes this disease particularly amenable to allele-specific RNA interference (RNAi)-based therapy. Thus, this study also evaluated the feasibility of these cell models as a vehicle to test previously-developed RNAi therapeutics, using the alteration of expression of key transcripts as a phenotypic marker. SCA7 patient and control dermal fibroblasts were reprogrammed to pluripotency by retroviral transduction. The resultant induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines were characterised with respect to endogenous markers of pluripotency, differentiation capacity and transgene silencing. These cells were then subjected to neuronal differentiation, the success of which was confirmed by the expression of early neuronal markers

Causal Comparative Study of Public Middle and High School English Language Arts Teachers\u27 Usage of Technology for Learning and Teaching

This quantitative casual-comparative study examines the differences between reported barriers and technology anxiety when integrating technology into teaching and learning based on years of teaching experience of public middle and high school English language arts (ELA) teachers. Despite the need for a 21st-century learning environment, there is a lack of study on the challenges of integrating technology into ELA classes in public middle and high schools and the level of teacher anxiety these teachers experience. The Kotrlik-Redmann Technology Integration Survey was used to poll 163 middle and high school ELA instructors from various school systems in the Southeast. The data collected was analyzed using a one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to determine if there is a statistical difference between reported barriers and technology anxiety related to integrating technology based on years of teaching experience. The results of this research found that there is not a statistically significant difference between the barriers to integrating technology and technology anxiety based on years of teaching experience. In conclusion, the study failed to reject the null hypothesis as there was no difference in the barriers to integrating technology and anxiety among public middle and high school English language arts teachers with Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 years of teaching experience. The researcher recommends conducting further research, including replicating the study using more evenly disrupted data and in other secondary content areas

The Epigenetic Regulators ATRX and CTCF are Required for Mouse Neuroprogenitor Cell Survival and Brain Development

Emerging evidence implicates the regulation of higher-order chromatin structure in brain development, maturation, and function. Human mutations in two important regulators of chromatin structure, ATRX and CTCF, cause microcephaly and intellectual disability and have been identified in several cancers, suggesting an important role for these proteins in the developing brain and to suppress tumorigenesis. This thesis demonstrates that chromatin structure is critical to the differentiation and survival of neural progenitor cells, and explores the mechanisms of ATRX and CTCF function in brain development. The first chapter identifies that Atrx deficiency induces replicative DNA damage at telomeres and pericentromeric heterochromatin, and the mutant mice display signs of premature aging, providing novel evidence that genetic damage restricted to the central nervous system can result in systemic defects that resemble aging. The second chapter demonstrates that the genome organizer CTCF is required for neural progenitor survival and to maintain the correct balance between proliferative and differentiative divisions in the mouse neocortex. The third chapter investigates the mechanism underlying p53- and PUMA-dependent apoptosis in Ctcf-null neural progenitor cells, focusing on a role for the protein in preventing replicative stress-induced apoptosis. Together, the findings presented here indicate that chromatin architectural proteins, such as ATRX and CTCF, are required for genomic stability to promote neural progenitor cell survival and support correct brain development

Circadian Rhythms of Crawling and Swimming in the Nudibranch Mollusc Melibe leonina

Daily rhythms of activity driven by circadian clocks are expressed by many organisms, including molluscs. We initiated this study, with the nudibranch Melibe leonina, with four goals in mind: (1) determine which behaviors are expressed with a daily rhythm; (2) investigate which of these rhythmic behaviors are controlled by a circadian clock; (3) determine if a circadian clock is associated with the eyes or optic ganglia of Melibe, as it is in several other gastropods; and (4) test the hypothesis that Melibe can use extraocular photoreceptors to synchronize its daily rhythms to natural light-dark cycles. To address these goals, we analyzed the behavior of 55 animals exposed to either artificial or natural light-dark cycles, followed by constant darkness. We also repeated this experiment using 10 animals that had their eyes removed. Individuals did not express daily rhythms of feeding, but they swam and crawled more at night. This pattern of locomotion persisted in constant darkness, indicating the presence of a circadian clock. Eyeless animals also expressed a daily rhythm of locomotion, with more locomotion at night. The fact that eyeless animals synchronized their locomotion to the light-dark cycle suggests that they can detect light using extraocular photoreceptors. However, in constant darkness, these rhythms deteriorated, suggesting that the clock neurons that influence locomotion may be located in, or near, the eyes. Thus, locomotion in Melibe appears to be influenced by both ocular and extraocular photoreceptors, although the former appear to have a greater influence on the expression of circadian rhythms

The Co-creation design framework

Co-creation is a valuable activity for organisations, but it can be costly if there is limited understanding of when co-creation is appropriate and for what purpose. Frow et al. (2015) developed the Co-Creation Design Framework as a strategic management and reflection tool for co-creative activity, with the view of helping firms to plan for and seek out co-creative innovation opportunities. However, there are notable limitations: the framework is firm centric, expert reliant and product development focused. By analysing case studies of Masters Student projects which encompass the contexts of social innovation and service design, the current study expands the framework scope. A Developed Co-Creation Design Framework is presented with adaptations and additions to the original, creating a strategic management tool which can be used in product, service and social innovation within an education setting. Directions for future research are given to help expand and refine the framework further

Keeping Pace with K-12 Digital Learning, 2015 12th Edition

This is the 12th annual Keeping Pace report. The digital learning world continues to change significantly each year, but the continued support from sponsors, educators, education agencies, state virtual schools, vendors and others has not faltered. We continue to appreciate these people and organizations and everyone who has helped along the way. The cast of Keeping Pace sponsors evolves each year, with the only common thread being that they are organizations that share an interest in digital learning and believe that the availability of information and research should be shared with practitioners and policy makers