Director Of Center Research Articles

Trends in cardiac CT utilization for patients with pediatric and congenital heart disease: A multicenter survey study

BackgroundThe use of cardiac CT (CCT) has increased dramatically in recent years among patients with pediatric and congenital heart disease (CHD), but little is known about trends and practice pattern variation in CCT utilization for this population among centers. MethodsA 21-item survey was created to assess CCT utilization in the pediatric/CHD population in calendar years 2011 and 2021. The survey was sent to all non-invasive cardiac imaging directors of pediatric cardiology centers in North America in September 2022. ResultsForty-one centers completed the survey. In 2021, 98% of centers performed CCT in pediatric and CHD patients (vs. 73% in 2011), and 61% of centers performed >100 CCTs annually (vs. 5% in 2011). While 62% of centers in 2021 utilized dual-source technology for high-pitch helical acquisition, 15% of centers reported primarily performing CCT on a 64-slice scanner. Anesthesia utilization, use of medications for heart rate control, and type of subspecialty training for physicians interpreting CCT varied widely among centers. 50% of centers reported barriers to CCT performance, with the most commonly cited concerns being radiation exposure, the need for anesthesia, and limited CT scan staffing or machine access. 37% (11/30) of centers with a pediatric cardiology fellowship program offer no clinical or didactic CCT training for categorical fellows. ConclusionWhile CCT usage in the CHD/pediatric population has risen significantly in the past decade, there is broad center variability in CCT acquisition techniques, staffing, workflow, and utilization. Potential areas for improvement include expanding CT scanner access and staffing, formal CCT education for pediatric cardiology fellows, and increasing utilization of existing technological advances.

Supporting leaders in early childhood education settings: an evaluation of a clinical supervision program for centre directors

Supporting leaders in early childhood education settings: an evaluation of a clinical supervision program for centre directors

A survey on the utilization of internet services to collect job information among medical students and initiation of video public relations activities for the recruitment of public health physicians based on the survey results

Objectives It is difficult for medical students to obtain information about public health physicians because there are very few public health physicians near them. To improve this situation, we surveyed the utilization of internet services to collect job information among medical students and produced six videos and conducted public relations activities for the recruitment of public health physicians based on the survey results.Methods The subjects of the survey were medical students in their third year or above from 18 universities. Public health teachers in these 18 universities sent their students anonymous self-administered questionnaires created with Google Forms mainly by e-mail. The questionnaires included the following items "internet services used to collect job information," "desired length of each video for knowing job information," and "information you want to know about your future work." The responses were reflected in the length and the content of the videos and the settings for their distribution.Results Responses were obtained from a total of 491 medical students, including 14 third-year students, 177 fifth-year students, and 300 sixth-year students. Homepages were the most frequently used online source for collecting job information (94.7%), followed by blogs (42.0%), Twitter (32.6%), and YouTube (18.9%). Medical students are less likely to use social networking services for collecting job information compared with non-medical job-hunting students. Regarding the length of the videos, 55.8% of the respondents preferred the length of one video to be less than 5 minutes, and 95.1% preferred it to be less than 10 minutes. Almost all of the respondents (93.1%) wanted to know the atmosphere of young public health physicians, and 74.1% also wanted to know the atmosphere of veteran physicians. Based on these results, we selected six public health physicians including young and veteran physicians and produced interview videos that conveyed the atmosphere of each doctor within 5 minutes per person. We refurbished the banner on the top page of the Japanese Association of Public Health Center Directors so that the videos uploaded to YouTube could be watched.Conclusion We clarified the current situation of the utilization of internet services for job-hunting activities among medical students and were able to initiate video public relations activities for the recruitment of public health physicians in accordance with the needs. It is necessary to increase awareness of the video platform among medical students and clinicians by deepening cooperation with local governments, universities, and medical institutions and expanding the human network both online and in person.

Interdisciplinary Research, Tenure Review, and Guardians of the Disciplinary Order

ABSTRACT While interdisciplinarity has been promoted in universities for decades, research suggests that untenured faculty struggle to receive recognition for their interdisciplinary research. Informed by the microfoundations of institutional theory and discursive legitimation, we examine how members of academic departments participate in the legitimation and reproduction of tenure and promotion norms in relation to disciplinary and interdisciplinary research in a prestigious private university. Our analysis draws on 59 interviews with department chairs, directors of interdisciplinary centers, and disciplinary and interdisciplinary untenured faculty in the STEM fields, the social sciences, and the humanities. Our findings reveal three mechanisms and processes through which tenure and promotion norms become legitimated and reproduced in academic departments: 1) institutional micro-practices concerned with evaluation and gatekeeping, 2) discursive legitimation of the expulsion of interdisciplinarity at the pre-tenure stage, and 3) scholarly positioning through discursive boundary strategies directed at rationalizing the expulsion of interdisciplinarity or the expansion of existing tenure and promotion norms. Taken together, these findings advance our understanding of the tensions between the promotion of interdisciplinary research in higher education institutions, reproduction of the disciplinary order in academic departments, and interdisciplinary early-career scholars’ career advancement.

Legal expert weighs in on sorority controversy

May Mailman, J.D., Director of Independent Women's Law Center, is legal counsel to Kappa Kappa Gamma plaintiffs in the Westenbroek v. Kappa Kappa Gamma lawsuit and a legal advisor for recently dismissed alumnae members Patsy Levang and Cheryl Tuck‐Smith. Here, Mailman lends her legal insight to the situation.

Mutually beneficial? Middle school educators’ perceptions about the benefits and challenges of a school–university partnership

PurposeThe paper identifies and explores the perspectives of middle school educators regarding the benefits and challenges of an ongoing, emerging school–university partnership. Over five years, professors at one comprehensive, Midwestern university, formed a partnership with a local middle school. While progress has been made to develop the partnership, the authors recognized a lack of shared governance (Essential 7). In particular, they were unsure the partnership was mutually beneficial. The authors interviewed teachers, the principal, assistant principals, guidance counselors, the instructional coach and the youth service center director to gain their perspectives on the partnership.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used an intrinsic, evaluative case study to examine educators perceptions of the benefits and challenges of the partnership (Guba & Lincoln, 1981; Patton, 2002). This approach was used because within this bounded system the authors have an interest in obtaining information to help improve the program and partnership.FindingsResults suggest the partnership was beneficial in a number of ways including hiring of and offering fresh ideas to teachers. Educators also felt there were many benefits for university candidates. Challenges included scheduling, technology access and candidate disposition. Implications are discussed.Research limitations/implicationsInherent within the research methodology, researchers’ inclusion in the data collection process may affect participants responses.Practical implicationsResearchers discuss the implications of this work, including the role of hiring candidates and clear articulation of a mission for the partnership.Originality/valueThis work adds to research on school site stakeholders’ perspectives on the value of school–university partnerships and includes teachers and the schools’ entire leadership team.

FDA approves first genetic test to help identify risk for OUD

On Dec. 19, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first test that uses DNA in assessing whether certain individuals may have an elevated risk of developing opioid use disorder (OUD). As part of a clinical evaluation, the AutoGenomics, Inc. AvertD test is intended to be used prior to first exposure to oral opioid pain medications in patients being considered for a 4–30‐day prescription for the treatment of acute pain, such as in patients scheduled to undergo a planned surgical procedure. “The AvertD test, a prescription‐use only genetic laboratory test for patients 18 years and older, is to be used only with patients who consent to the test and have no prior use of oral opioid analgesics,” said Jeff Shuren, M.D., J.D., director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “The test is administered by a health care provider by swabbing the cheek of a patient to collect a DNA sample that will be used to determine if a patient has a combination of genetic variants that may be associated with an elevated risk of developing OUD. This information should be used as part of a complete clinical evaluation and risk assessment; it should not be used alone to make treatment decisions. The test is not intended to be used in patients being treated for chronic pain. AvertD may help patients who are concerned about being treated with an opioid for acute pain make better informed decisions.” As part of the approval order, AutoGenomic, Inc. must provide training to health care providers to help ensure appropriate use of the test and conduct a large post‐market study assessing device performance in patients, regularly reporting progress made toward completion of that study to the FDA. The primary risks associated with AvertD are false negative and false positive results.

The impact of work-related wellbeing and workplace culture and climate on intention to leave in the early childhood sector

High-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) enables families to participate in paid employment and promotes positive outcomes for children. Maintaining a stable ECEC workforce is critical to these endeavours. However, the retention of qualified early childhood educators is a pervasive problem globally. While much has been written about reasons for leaving the sector, there has been less attention to the ‘intention to leave’ stage. This study used a mixed-methods approach to explore how work culture and climate and work-related wellbeing support early childhood professionals’ decisions to stay in or leave the profession, and whether there are significant differences between educators’ and centre directors’ intention to leave. Quantitative findings of survey responses from 713 early childhood professionals suggest that one in three respondents intended to leave the profession, more than half of these within five years. Emotional exhaustion predicted intention to leave in both groups. For centre directors, higher personal accomplishment and older age also predicted higher likelihood of intending to leave. For educators, lower satisfaction with pay and benefits and lower qualification level predicted intention to leave. Qualitative findings highlighted participants’ (n = 97) reasons for intention to leave the sector: feeling undervalued, increased demands with inadequate support, and workforce issues. Understanding these factors may assist in designing interventions to prevent intention turning into a decision to leave, and therefore improve workforce stability. This is especially timely in the Australian context, when attention to supporting the ECEC workforce is high on the political agenda, and real structural and organisational change is possible.

Ethnicity-based director network and earnings quality

ABSTRACT We exploit the ethnic value differences in Malaysia to investigate the role of ethnicity-based director network in earnings management. Using various centrality measures from social network analysis, we map the ethnicity-based network of 4,416 directors for a sample of 734 listed firms. Our results show central directors are associated with more aggressive earnings management, suggesting that the reciprocal relationships created by the network allow central directors to learn about earnings management techniques and/or to gain better resources to facilitate earnings management techniques. Whilst firms with more central directors in either the Bumiputera or non-Bumiputera network show a greater propensity to engage in earnings management, those in the non-Bumiputera network exhibit more aggressive earnings management practices.

Design Management: From my Experience in Toyota Design

This is a manuscript compiled based on Mr. Hideichi Misono’s speech at the 2024 International Design Services and Social Innovation Forum in Hong Kong on August 27th, 2024. Mr. Hideichi Misono is former design director of Toyota Design Center and has held positions such as Executive Vice President of Calty Design Research in California, Senior General Manager of Toyota Design Center, and President and CEO of Tecno Art Research. He once led the entire Toyota Design Group and played an important role in establishing Toyota’s design philosophy. In the field of education, he was a visiting professor at Chiba University and has given lectures and seminars in many countries. Misono is currently an executive advisor for the Japan Industrial Design Association (JIDA), supporting the overall operation of JIDA.

Gerald H. Anderson and the Overseas Ministries Study Center: “Mission Trends” from Postcolonialism to World Christianity

This article introduces the scholarship and administrative accomplishments of Dr. Gerald H. Anderson, longtime Director of the Overseas Ministries Study Center and Editor of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research. Based on his missionary experience in the Philippines, his voluminous writings, and his founding of major missiological organizations, Anderson was central to the reframing of mission studies in the postcolonial era of the last third of the twentieth century. Under his leadership, the Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC) became a hub for the emerging network of World Christianity scholarship. Unlike the rigidity of academic institutions caught in the discourse of secularization theory, the OMSC represented a creative liminal space with the flexibility to innovate. Anderson and the OMSC incubated teams of scholars and practitioners who cumulatively formulated a new approach to the study of mission and to the understanding of Christianity as a worldwide rather than Western religion.

Was the result determined by disgruntled voters who did not go to the polls?

Üsküdar University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Political Science and International Relations (English) and Postcolonial Studies Application and Research Center (PAMER) Director Asst. Prof. Fehmi Ağca evaluated the results of the 31 March 2024 Local Administrations General Election.

The virtual environment has led to the degeneration of the Turkish language!

Üsküdar University Turkish Teaching Application and Research Center (ÜSTÖMER) Director Instructor Selçuk Duman evaluated the use of language by the new generation and the deformation of language.

ВОПРОС МИГРАЦИИ ГРАЖДАНСКОГО НАСЕЛЕНИЯ В РАБОТЕ СМЕШАННОЙ КОМИССИИ ПО РЕПАТРИАЦИИ В 1921-1924 ГГ.

The article examines the activities of the Mixed Commission for Repatriation in 1921–1924, highlights the main problems in its functioning. The work of the commission was in close connection with the existing state of the Soviet-Polish relations. The tension in establishing diplomatic ties between the parties greatly influenced the general course of repatriation. Attention is drawn to the fact that from the very beginning of the work of the Mixed Repatriation Commission, the reluctance of the Polish side to resolve controversial issues was revealed. Disagreements began when the parties started discussing the issue of personal exchange, which, in accordance with the additional protocol to the agreement of February 24, 1921, was to be carried out in the first place. The article shows the process of cooperation of the Mixed Commission for Repatriation with the bodies involved in improving the economic and sanitary conditions of the repatriates – with the branches of the Red Cross Society, the Central Directorate for the Evacuation of the Population (Tsentrevak) of the RSFSR.

ОБҐРУНТУВАННЯ НЕОБХІДНОСТІ ВДОСКОНАЛЕННЯ МЕХАНІЗМУ ДЕРЖАВНОГО РЕГУЛЮВАННЯ ВІЙСЬКОВОЇ ОСВІТИ У ЗБРОЙНИХ СИЛАХ УКРАЇНИ

This article highlights the features of state regulation of military education of the tactical command and control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the context of aggravation of the military-political situation. It reveals the regulatory and legal support for the implementation of managerial influences on ensuring the quality of military education in Ukraine. An analysis of recent research and publications in the specific field of research is carried out. The main directions for forming and ensuring the implementation of military education policy are identified, which are considered in the context of the division of powers and responsibilities of the Department of Military Education and Science of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and the Central Directorate of Military Education of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The author substantiates the necessity to search for new, dissipative mechanisms that can provide a synergistic effect in the process of implementing the state regulation of military specialists training for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

어린이집 초임원장의 평가제 참여 경험과 의미

The purpose of this study is to explore in depth the experiences and implications of participating in the appraisal system of daycare center directors. To this end, five first-time directors of daycare centres were selected as research participants and the study was conducted using a narrative inquiry process. Data were collected by conducting at least two individual and group in-depth interviews with each participant from October 2022 to April 2023, and collecting documents on the participants' schedules, plans, and preparations for participating in the evaluation system. The results of the study revealed that the meaning of the experience of participating in the evaluation system for the first director of a daycare center was ‘a mountain to be overcome once', 'leadership comes from a solid self', and 'the first step to the next level'. From these findings, it can be concluded that through participating in the appraisal system, the first director of a daycare center experienced both professional improvement as a director and improvement in the quality of daycare services. By revealing the difficulties and positive situations of participating in the evaluation system, the results of this study provide a basis for providing institutional support for improving the professionalism of daycare center directors.

어린이집 원장의 인성, 그릿, 전문성 간의 경로분석

This study examined the mediating effect of grit in the relationship between personality and professionalism of child care center directors by identifying the path relationship among personality, grit, and professionalism of child care center directors. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to enhance the professionalism of child care center directors. In order to realize the purpose of the study, the degree of personality, grit, and professionalism was measured for 173 directors working at child care center in Busan. The results of the study are as follows. First, the personality of the child care center directors affected the professionalism. Second, the personality of the child care center directors affected grit. Third, the grit of the child care center directors affected the professionalism. Fourth, the grit of the child care center directors showed a partial mediating effect between personality and professionalism. Therefore, the personality and grit for the improvement of the professionalism of the child care center directors were discussed.

Why Developing Re-entry Support Matters for Prison Education Programs

Rates of incarceration in the United States are among the highest in the world. Research suggests, however, that corrections education reduces the likelihood of someone returning to prison and peer support is an effective best practice to assist the justice-impacted population to transition from incarceration to the community. 
 This reflective essay explores challenges incarcerated persons face in accessing prison education programs, as well as challenges faced by incarcerated and re-entry populations in completing their educational and career goals pre- and post-release. As a practitioner with lived experience, Ms. Good-Collins will describe critical supports for addressing corrections education barriers and meeting the criminogenic needs of individuals transitioning from incarceration to their community. Moreover, we will discuss how to best support students involved with corrections education pre- and post-release through basic needs acquisition, viable access to education and employment services, and ongoing peer support and mentoring. 
 Finally, we will discuss the logic for higher education institutions currently providing prison education programs to integrate Re-Entry Centers onto their campuses, as well as the importance of staffing them with persons directly impacted by the justice system. Supporting evidence for this essay is gleaned from first-hand experience by the director for the largest on-campus Re-Entry Center in the United States, and its success in effectively supporting corrections education students in transitioning to the community, remaining engaged in the program, and receiving support to achieve their goals. Evidence will include contributions from formerly incarcerated facilitators, coordinators, and administrators of the Re-Entry Center.

Epilepsy monitoring unit practices and safety among NAEC epilepsy centers: A census survey

ObjectiveAn epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) is a specialized unit designed for capturing and characterizing seizures and other paroxysmal events with continuous video electroencephalography (vEEG). Nearly 260 epilepsy centers in the United States are accredited by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC) based on adherence to specific clinical standards to improve epilepsy care, safety, and quality. This study examines EMU staffing, safety practices, and reported outcomes. MethodWe analyzed NAEC annual report data and results from a supplemental survey specific to EMU practices reported in 2019 from 341 pediatric or adult center directors. Data on staffing, resources, safety practices and complications were collated with epilepsy center characteristics. We summarized using frequency (percentage) for categorical variables and median (inter-quartile range) for continuous variables. We used chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests to compare staff responsibilities. ResultsThe supplemental survey response rate was 100%. Spell classification (39%) and phase 1 testing (28%) were the most common goals of the 91,069 reported admissions. The goal ratio of EEG technologist to beds of 1:4 was the most common during the day (68%) and off-hours (43%). Compared to residents and fellows, advanced practice providers served more roles in the EMU at level 3 or pediatric-only centers. Status epilepticus (SE) was the most common reported complication (1.6% of admissions), while cardiac arrest occurred in 0.1% of admissions. SignificanceEMU staffing and safety practices vary across US epilepsy centers. Reported complications in EMUs are rare but could be further reduced, such as with more effective treatment or prevention of SE. These findings have potential implications for improving EMU safety and quality care.

Educational leadership in early childhood education: Participant vulnerability and a ‘rule of care’

There is considerable literature describing the use of Change Laboratory as a simultaneous research and intervention methodology in workplace settings. However, there is limited literature describing Change Laboratory from the researcher-facilitator perspective. This paper examines the ethical dimensions of Change Laboratory from this perspective and specifically how a ‘rule of care’ became a conscious rule. The context is a series of Change Laboratories implemented with Centre Directors and Educational Leaders from early childhood education and care centres in Darwin and Melbourne, Australia. Based on our analysis we attribute the emergence of this rule to a particular vulnerability of the participants: that they were all recruited from centres that had been publicly designated as Working Towards National Quality Standard requirements for quality early childhood education and care practices. We present evidence of this ‘rule of care’ in our work as researcher-facilitators from our data. We conclude that attention to a ‘rule of care’ is necessary to support transformation, particularly for vulnerable participants such as Educational Leaders.