Recommendations for travelling with bronchiectasis:a joint ELF/EMBARC/ERN-Lung collaboration

Introduction: People with bronchiectasis frequently request specialist advice to prepare for travelling, but there are few publications providing advice on safe travel with bronchiectasis. There is a need for recommendations on adapting everyday treatment to the requirements during travelling.Methods: A panel of 13 patient volunteers formulated questions regarding different aspects of travelling, including safety of travel, maintaining regular treatment during travel, and dealing with deterioration while away. Patient input was used to derive a questionnaire and circulated among a panel of bronchiectasis experts. Where 80% or more experts agreed on a response, a recommendation was made.Results: A total of 26 bronchiectasis experts answered the questionnaire. Recommendations were made on safety of travel, choice of destinations and activities, choice of travel insurance, carrying medications and devices, maintaining regular treatments in transport, documentation to be provided and oxygen requirements. Some statements did not reach an 80% agreement; in many cases these statements may be valid for some, but not all bronchiectasis patients.Conclusions: The general agreement was that it is considered safe for most people with bronchiectasis to travel. Careful planning and preparation with robust communication between patients and their healthcare provider prior to travel for different scenarios is fundamental to a successful journey.</p

Multispecies reaction-diffusion systems

Multispecies reaction-diffusion systems, for which the time evolution equation of correlation functions become a closed set, are considered. A formal solution for the average densities is found. Some special interactions and the exact time dependence of the average densities in these cases are also studied. For the general case, the large time behaviour of the average densities has also been obtained.Comment: LaTeX file, 15 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Characterizing Exceptional Superintendent Leadership in Ethnically and Economically Diverse School Districts

This study examined ‘exceptional’ superintendent leadership in ethnically and economically diverse school districts. The purpose of the study was to use comparative case studies to better understand the beliefs and strategies these proven leaders employ to positively impact achievement and close the opportunity gap for students in ethnically and economically diverse school districts. The study examined three superintendents from the state of Illinois with respect to their philosophy, identified district strengths, culturally responsive attitudes and actions, leadership style, core beliefs, direct impact on students, and decision-making process to identify commonalities and differences that exist. Culturally responsive leadership was the theoretical lens for this study. The research questions reflected this framework and provided a focus for the study. Evidence was collected through individual interviews with each superintendent and members of his or her administrative team and by collecting and examining observation data and artifacts. After collecting and analyzing the data, patterns, and themes were identified and analyzed to develop superintendent portraits. These portraits illuminated the characteristics of exceptional superintendents, including: (a) The Superintendent Recognizes Culture as Paramount to Effective Instruction; (b) The Superintendent Has a Deep Understanding of What Quality Instruction Looks Like; (c) The Superintendent Effectively Engages the Community; (d) The Superintendent Hires Educators Who Believe Culture and Language is Essential to Learning; (e) The Superintendent Articulates a Vision that Denies Deficit-Thinking; (f) The Superintendent Innovates to Ensure Equity and Excellence for Every Child. One essential theme was identified much more frequently in the context of serving in ethnically and economically diverse school districts. The theme was that of the Superintendent as a Culturally Responsive Leader. This characteristic was identified in the leadership of all three identified superintendents. The findings from this study generated recommendations for practicing administrators, academic research, superintendent preparation programs and policy that may have significant implications for schools that are working to close the opportunity gap in a similar context. Specifically, these recommendations should focus on the identified Characteristics of Exceptional Superintendents with an emphasis on culturally responsive leadership. Recommendations for future research include additional studies on: exceptional superintendents serving in other geographical regions, the impact of culturally responsive leadership at the district-level, and the impact of school boards hiring from within the community

Deconstructing the University: Contemporary DEI, Neoliberal Rationalities, and the Abolition of the Administrative Apparatus

The following chapters attempt to develop some working theories to combat capitalist exploitation and racist and gendered oppression in the university, culminating in a call for the abolition of the university’s administrative apparatus. The project is divided broadly into two parts, which are referential to each other, but maintain slightly different areas of focus. Part 1 details a preliminary critique of the political-economy of the contemporary neoliberal university, drawing influence from Marxian economics and structuralist theories of ideology, critiquing contemporary discourses of diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI). Part 2 focuses more directly on issues pertaining to oppression and difference, maintaining a predominantly Marxist critique which situates racism and patriarchy as co-constitutive of capitalist social relations. The project’s conclusion, seeks to join the theoretical developments of Parts 1 and 2 into a singular political mission: abolition

Comparison of Th1 cytokines and T cell markers gene expressions between virulent and an attenuated EIAV vaccine strain

The equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is closely related to HIV and has been used as a model to identify protective mechanisms against lentivirus infection. In horses, EIA infection progresses for about a year before infected horses manage to control virus replication. This naturally-gained protection is absolutely dependent on active immune responses as evidenced by the fact that immunosuppressive drugs can induce the recurrence of disease. As the resolution of initial viremia correlates with the appearance of virus specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL), we believe that cellular immune responses play a key role in controlling EIAV in the horse. In a previous study, a modified live EIAV stain (D9) provided effective protection against homologous virus challenge without causing disease, but this vaccine could not achieve optimum protective immunity until six months post vaccination. In this study, development of cell-mediated immunity was monitored in EIAVD9 infected ponies over a six-month period. We hypothesized that both Th1 cytokines and CTL would be upregulated in EIAVD9 infected ponies. To test this hypothesis, ponies were inoculated with the attenuated EIAVD9 strain. Whole blood samples were collected into PAXgene™ tubes weekly during the acute infection stage (first 6 weeks) and at monthly intervals thereafter corresponding to the chronic infection phase. Total RNA was isolated from the PAXgene™ tubes and gene expression for both Th1 cytokine (IFN) and CTL markers (Granzyme B and Perforin) were determined using real-time PCR. At the same time, another group of ponies receiving a virulent EIAV were monitored and sampled as comparison. We found that Th1 cytokine (IFN) and CTL marker (perforin) genes were significantly increased four months post EIAVD9 infection. These results indicate that the maturation of cellular immune response in EIAVD9 infected horses requires at least four months

Better Now Than Ever

A non-linear, non-representational theatre piece written and directed by Scott Henkle and performed in October of 1994.https://collected.jcu.edu/plays/1103/thumbnail.jp

Deconstructing the University: Contemporary DEI, Neoliberal Rationalities, and the Abolition of the Administrative Apparatus

The following chapters attempt to develop some working theories to combat capitalist exploitation and racist and gendered oppression in the university, culminating in a call for the abolition of the university’s administrative apparatus. The project is divided broadly into two parts, which are referential to each other, but maintain slightly different areas of focus. Part 1 details a preliminary critique of the political-economy of the contemporary neoliberal university, drawing influence from Marxian economics and structuralist theories of ideology, critiquing contemporary discourses of diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI). Part 2 focuses more directly on issues pertaining to oppression and difference, maintaining a predominantly Marxist critique which situates racism and patriarchy as co-constitutive of capitalist social relations. The project’s conclusion, seeks to join the theoretical developments of Parts 1 and 2 into a singular political mission: abolition

To make a better music school

This paper seeks to examine the elements that make an effective and high quality School of Music that prepares students for success beyond graduation. Through interviews with University of Northern Iowa (UNI) School of Music faculty, a deeper understanding of the skills and knowledge currently emphasized in the music core at UNI was gained. A survey of UNI School of Music alumni provided an understanding of how well the current mix of skills and knowledge align with those that are necessary in the work force. Through this research, an understanding of the skills and knowledge required to work in the music industry was more clearly gained, and changes to the School of Music’s existing curriculum that will support those careers were identified. This research is significant because it makes a critical analysis of the existing program, which, if addressed, will improve the effectiveness of UNI students upon entering the workforce

California Native Ethnocide: California Indigenous Peoples and Cultural Extermination

From the founding of the United States to the establishment of the state of California, the culture of ethnocentrism of European settlers and colonizers has been a defining force, manifesting in policies, violence, and the attempted systematic ethnocide of Indigenous peoples. From the time of first contact by the Spanish, to Mexican rule, to the conquest of California by the United States, Native peoples have been viewed as savages, as peoples who needed to be civilized, to be assimilated into White settler society. Policies of ethnocide have been present since this first contact to “Kill the Indian and save the man.” These ethnocidal polices were put forth by both the state of California as well as by the federal government. The Spanish brought the mission era to California with the aim of Christianizing the Native population, forcing them to live and labor at the missions so they could adopt the “civilized” ways of the European man. The Mexicans continued this policy under their rule starting in 1821. Once the Americans conquered the land in 1846, they began policies of genocide, outright murder, to eradicate the Native population. When genocide failed, the US turned to ethnocidal policies such as reservations and Indian Boarding Schools as tools of assimilation. The White man saw reservations as places where Native peoples could learn the ways of civilization, such as farming and agriculture. Schools were ways to assimilate Native children, while they were young, to make them into White, settler society. As a result of Euro-American contact and settlement in California, from the first European contact by the Spanish to 1900, under US rule, Indigenous peoples of California experienced ethnocide through federal and state policies, boarding schools, dispossession of their lands, and cultural dislocation, leading to the attempted loss of their culture, languages, laws, governance, traditional dietary intake, and spiritual traditions, all designed to force assimilation into White society