Sessional Meeting Research Articles

Abstract B091: Listen, Empower, Co-Create: Conducting listening sessions to create tailored messages about colorectal health for American Indian communities

Abstract Background We conducted Listening Sessions using a modified version of boot camp translation (BCT), a validated community engaged approach, to engage American Indian community members in the Great Plains and the Pacific Northwest to develop culturally and locally relevant colorectal cancer (CRC) screening messages and materials. Methods CRC is one of the leading causes of cancer death in the US and disproportionally affects American Indian adults. Routine CRC screening leads to earlier diagnosis and prolonged survival from the disease. In partnership with Great Plains Tribal Leaders Health Board (GPTLHB), South Puget Intertribal Planning Agency (SPIPA), and National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, we used a modified BCT approach to obtain feedback from tribal communities to create CRC screening messages and materials. To make the BCT process more meaningful for our partner communities, we reframed the BCT sessions by referring to them as Listening Sessions. The Listening Session engagement process was designed to help community leaders and champions learn about local barriers and gaps in care (listen), share health information in a collaborative way (empower), and develop messages and materials that resonate with and motivate community members to take control of their health (co-create). Eligible tribal community members from GPTLHB and SPIPA were between the ages of 45-75 and able to participate in three Listening Session meetings (one five-hour in-person meeting including expert presentations, brainstorming opportunities, and interactive small group sessions, and two follow-up virtual sessions (one-hour each) to refine messages and materials). Results Common Themes. Both groups emphasized the importance of using a multigenerational approach by including grandchildren and Elders in the messages and materials. Additionally, they highlighted the need for materials to be relatable and culturally relevant by incorporating local cultural imagery and traditions and multigenerational family support .Differing Themes. The GPTLHB findings focused specifically on including Lakota words to reinforce cultural identity, using visuals for colon health education, and incorporating details about healing traditions. The SPIPA findings recommended highlighting intertribal milestones like the canoe journey and incorporating water as a symbol of spiritual healing. Materials and Dissemination Methods. Preferred materials and channels for dissemination were: 1) fact sheets, posters, and visual stories to be distributed in-clinic or at community events, 2) animated videos for CRC screening education to be shown in clinic, 3) live action videos with community member CRC stories to be shown in clinic. Final materials will be available here: www.KPCHR-engage.org Conclusion We conducted Listening Sessions to incorporate participant feedback to develop CRC screening messages and materials and identified preferred dissemination channels for tribal communities in the Great Plains and Pacific Northwest. Citation Format: Jamie Thompson, Jennifer Rivelli, Priyanka Gautom, LaToya Brave Heart, Jamie Nikander, Lorrie Graaf, Gloria Coronado. Listen, Empower, Co-Create: Conducting listening sessions to create tailored messages about colorectal health for American Indian communities [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr B091.

Pelatihan Metode Pembelajaran Aktif, Inovatif dan Menyenangkan untuk Guru MI Bahrul Ulum Nataan Gedong Boyountung Lamongan

This service aims to improve teachers' competence in implementing active, innovative, creative, effective and fun (PAIKEM) learning methods through training for 15 teachers of MI Bahrul Ulum Nataan. Online training was carried out through 4 session meetings by applying various training methods. The results of the training showed a significant increase in understanding of PAIKEM concepts (62% to 89%), skills in implementing PAIKEM methods (69% to 91%), and creativity in developing innovative learning (65% to 85%) in the trained teachers. The application of PAIKEM by teachers impacts the increase in student activity and learning outcomes as well as the positive image of schools. In conclusion, PAIKEM training is able to improve teacher professional competence and contribute significantly to improving the quality of learning at MI Bahrul Ulum Nataan.

Sistem Informasi Notifikasi Jadwal Sidang Pada Kantor DPRD Provinsi Sumatera Selatan Berbasis Android

The South Sumatra Regional People's Representative Council is a regional people's representative institution that is domiciled as an element of regional government administration in the province of South Sumatra. Currently, the process of hearing schedule information at the South Sumatra provincial DPRD office still uses conventional methods such as direct submission of the unit that provides requests for hearings or internal activities, after that the requests will be processed and invitations to session meetings are then distributed. Therefore, it can be overcome by proposing a system, namely the firebase push notification feature or firebase cloud messaging. Firebase cloud messaging is a form of service provided on Google to send a message or notification to customers through a browser or smartphone. The purpose of this study is to build a hearing schedule notification information system in the South Sumatra Provincial DPRD to make it easier for DPRD members to find out information about the trial and get notification of the session schedule on the members' cellphones. This app is designed and built by leveraging Firebase Cloud Messaging by narrating push notifications. This system is expected to be able to manage notifications every time there is a new news update regarding the time and agenda of the trial, as well as provide convenience to members of the DPRD to find out information about the trial.

High performance team sport coaches’ perspectives of their use of in-session core coaching practices to stimulate player learning

ABSTRACT Despite coaching pedagogy researchers advocating that sports coaches employ a range of core coaching practices to positively impact player learning, coaches’ actual practices remain under-investigated. Guided by Complex Learning Theory (CLT), the aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which coaches in a high-performance team sport setting report employing a range of in-session core coaching practices during both on-field and off-field sessions and their perceptions of how such practices impact player learning. Twelve Gaelic football coaches took part in semi-structured interviews. A reflective thematic analysis of the data developed four themes – (1) application of questioning by the coaches, (2) difficulties and challenges experienced when using questioning, (3) using video analysis to maximise learning and (4) the coach as a facilitator of player learning. Findings showed that coaches were aware of and employing many of the core practices advocated in the sports coaching literature. Coaches employed varied questioning to give players an active role within both on-field and video review sessions to enhance their overall game understanding. However, numerous challenges expressed by coaches suggested it was not a consistent tool in their coaching practice. The coaches recognised the need to facilitate player learning by employing core practices which encourage player autonomy and prolonged dialogue, although this was mostly reported to take place in off-field activities such as video analysis and pre/post session meetings. The current study highlighted an epistemological gap with some coaches demonstrating awareness of advocated strategies but failing to support these claims with tangible examples in their practice. This investigation supports the application of CLT as a suitable theoretical framework in which to interpret the core practices coaches employ in their practice. The introduction of CLT to coaches may promote a sustained and sophisticated application of core coaching practices within the delivery of coaching sessions.

Improving Oral Presentation Skills for Radiology Residents through Clinical Session Meetings in the Virtual World Second Life.

The objective of this study was to conduct a clinical session meeting in the virtual world of Second Life to improve the oral presentation skills of radiology residents and to assess the perception of the attendees. A clinical session meeting (10 two-hour sessions over four weeks), where participants presented their own clinical sessions, followed by a turn of interventions by the attendees, was designed and carried out. Attendees were asked to complete an evaluation questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were performed. Twenty-eight radiology residents attended the meeting, and 23 (81.2%) completed the evaluation questionnaire; 95.7-100% of them agreed that the virtual environment was attractive and suitable for holding the meeting and that the content was appropriate for their training as residents. They rated with ≥8.9 points (from 1 to 10) different aspects of the experience, highlighting the role of teachers (9.7 ± 0.6) and the usefulness of their training (9.4 ± 0.9). Second Life can be used effectively to train oral communication skills in public, in an environment perceived as attractive and suitable for learning, through an experience described by the attendees as interesting and useful, highlighting the advantages of social contact with their peers.

Stock markets and economic uncertainty: Roles of legislative sessions and coalition strength

Legislative sessions constitute a critical component of the Westminster Parliamentary system, in a country like India. They play a crucial role in important policy decisions that have ramifications for the corporate sector's cash flows, leading to changes in stock price and volatility. Using data from India, we find that legislative session meetings influence stock price volatility, and the effect is inversely proportional to the strength of the ruling coalition government. These findings advance the theories of intraparty portfolio allocation and partisan trust discrimination in representative democracies based on intraparty and interparty competition in a ruling alliance. Our findings suggest that political competition reflected through government strength in legislative session meetings shapes the mechanism of economic uncertainty, i.e., the foundation of asset price volatility. We draw implications for the conduct of parliamentary business as well as stock investment strategy.

Funkcjonowanie rady gminy w czasie pandemii COVID-19

Considering the rate of spread of the SARS-CoV-19 virus on a global scale, the situation is related with infections with this virus caused unexpected changes in everyday social life. These changes also affected the activities of public administration. The aim of the article is to present the functioning of the commune council during the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular referring to the session meetings of this body through the prism of introducing the possibility of a remote mode of meetings. The article first presents the normative patterns (both constitutional and statutory) of the functioning of the commune council as a body constituting a local government unit, then the changes to this pattern were analyzed, made by the Act of 2 March 2020 on special solutions related to prevention and counteracting and combating COVID-19, other infectious diseases and emergencies caused by them, taking into account the practical problems resulting from the changes made, and the effects of the changes made were shown. The article concluded with the conclusion that although the legislator's idea of introducing the possibility of remote holding of a session of the commune council was necessary, due to health protection and m aintaining the requirements of the sanitary regime, the way of regulating this procedure was not fully thought out and made to the needs of the moment.

Experience of Choosing Wisely in a Medical Center

<p>明智選擇(Choosing Wisely)可以提高照護的品質、降低成本，避免醫療照護發生使用過度(Overuse)及使用不當(Misuse)的醫療品質或醫療爭議相關問題，使健保與醫療體系永續經營。高雄醫學大學附設中和紀念醫院於2020年啟動明智選擇推動專案，作為醫療適當性的檢討與改善機制。經首長宣示、建立推動架構、依任務分組、教育訓練及定時召開進度會議，再由醫品病安管理中心及實證醫學中心邀請並協助臨床科的選題及執行。共有7個團隊完成明智選擇主題，已舉辦成果發表會及跨院分享，並在各科開啟專業對話及醫療適當性的討論。藉由本院推動明智選擇的經驗分享，提升醫療的適當性，減少不必要的檢查、診斷或治療，可作為醫學教育及醫療先進的參考。</p> <p> </p><p>Choosing Wisely improves quality of care, reduces medical expenses, prevents overuse and misuse problems of medical care in relation to healthcare quality or medical disputes, and increases the sustainability of the National Health Insurance and medical systems. Since 2020, Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital has promoted the Choosing Wisely program as part of the review and improvement mechanism for medical services to ensure their adequacy. Started up by the vice superintendent, we assigned tasks to relevant departments, executed educational programs and held regular meetings. With the assistance of the Medical Safety Management Center and Evidence-Based Medicine Center, we performed topic selection and implemented the Choosing Wisely program for seven clinical teams. All the teams completed the tasks successfully. We held a competition, presentation session, and experience-sharing meetings with other hospitals. The initiation of Choosing Wisely in our hospital enabled clinical professionals to participate meaningfully in peer discussion regarding the adequacy of medical care. Herein, we present our experience and strategies in promoting Choosing Wisely at our hospital, which improved the adequacy of medical services and reduced unnecessary testing, diagnoses, and treatments. This study may serve as a reference for those involved in medical education and medical professions.</p> <p> </p>

Preface

The International Conference on Information Technologies in Business and Industries (ITBI-2020) was held at Novosibirsk State Technical University, Russia, on April 6–8, 2020.In the late 90th, the Information Technology in Industries was one of the sessions of the Conference on Mechanical Engineering, Automation and Control Systems (MEACS). In 2016 the organizing committee of MEACS made a decision to hold sessions on control systems, enterprise information systems, applied math as an independent event that was titled “Information Technologies in Business and Industries” (ITBI). The usual venues of the conference are well-known scientific centers in Russian Western Siberia.In 2020, ITBI for the second time took place at Novosibirsk State Technical University. Today Novosibirsk is the largest scientific center in Russia and in the Commonwealth of Independent States. For the past several years the event become a well-recognized regional forum for researchers in the field of computer science, instrumentation, and control engineering. Despite the peculiarities, the conference attracted several participants from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and China.Unfortunately, global pandemic affected the event in a bad way. For the first time, the conference was postponed to April. Due to the fact that lockdown in Russia was expected to be extended until summer, as well as global travel restrictions, organizers took the time to prepare virtual sessions.The plenary session was held on 6th April in the virtual BigBlueButton room. All other session meetings were held in the same fashion in the following two days. The time limits for the delivery of a report remain the same as before. Regretfully, the university server was not yet prepared for the load at the time of the event, so the number of concurrent participants of theremote meetings was restricted to a few dozens. However, more than 200 hundred unique participants attended meetings. After the conference, by the end of April, all video-on-demand files were shared among the participants. The authors were encouraged to address their postevent questions to other participants publicly via NSTU forum or privately via email.The papers selected among a hundred qualified submissions cover a wide range of topics within the fields of computer science, industrial automation, and instrumentation engineering. All submissions were reviewed by the editors and by the expert referee from the program committee. The 209 accepted manuscripts were included in the volume.The committee is proud to express gratitude to all organizers and participants as well as to technical staff members who prepared the virtual meetings in such a limited time. Apart from it, the committee wants to apologize to speakers for the inconvenience and restrictions. In conclusion, the committee thanks all the authors and editors who contributed their time and effort to comprise and polish this volume. Organizing Committee of ITBI-2020 Edited by: Eugeniy Porsev, professor, Novosibirsk State Technical University Valeriy Avramchuk, professor Tomsk Polytechnic University Boris Malozemov, PhD, Novosibirsk State Technical University

Open legislative data: From Ukrainian perspective

Structured, open by default, accessible, timely data are important source for understanding the parliament, engaging citizens to legislation processes, political analysis and prognosis. Data about voting, MPs, finance and legislation-flow in the parliament are vital and having access to the whole bulk of data – is the main source of information for researchers, journalists, think tanks, parliament itself.
 Parliaments all around the world produce terabytes of information each year. These are voting records, drafts of laws, legislation, amendments, information about plenary session meetings, speeches, videos, photos, financial information etc. Is this information used by parliament, think tanks, other stakeholders? Or is it hidden in the shelf in offices of parliamentarian clerks?
 In this article author tries to explain the importance of open legislative data, how they can be used by and for society. Nadiia Babynska describes her path on opening parliament data in Ukraine, failures and successes in this process. Nadiia Babynska shows the initial need of open legislative data for good governance, engagement citizens, transparency and anti-corruption in parliament. She proposes the main steps to make parliament data open.

Acceptance of mixed scientific and clinical activities in a sub-speciality urology meeting.

Basic urolithiasis research into the causes for stone formation has been stagnating for a long time. Emergence of effective stone treatment modalities has shifted the public and clinicians' focus away from basic research towards symptomatic treatment solutions. This has occurred in spite of urolithiasis being a highly recurrent disease with an enormous socio-economic impact warranting a prophylactic and recurrence-preventing approach. An integrated, multidisciplinary translational platform has been developed in the form of urolithiasis meetings bringing together urologists, radiologists, nephrologists, basic scientists, dieticians and other stake holders interested in stone disease, for an exchange of knowledge, mutual education and understanding, and professional networking. Traditionally, such combined meetings are split into sessions addressing the specific interests of clinicians and scientists. At the recent Experts in Stone Disease Symposium we devised and implemented a program which mixed clinical and basic science activities throughout. We interviewed delegates between sessions regarding their acceptance of this novel concept using a standardized questionnaire. Sessions were well-attended, alleviating our initial anxiety that delegates would not appreciate a "no-choice" program. Of the 74 delegates who were interviewed, 60 (81%) were urologists, and 14 (19%) were non-urologists such as nephrologists, dieticians, and students. This is representative of the overall distribution of delegates at the conference. 71% felt that a closer co-operation and understanding between clinicians and scientists will ultimately benefit both groups, as well as patients; 95% found the mixed session approach beneficial, with half appreciating it as very good and innovative; 94% believed that they had derived useful learnings from the "other side"; 94% found that such mixed sessions are useful for their future work and understanding of the urolithiasis field as a whole; 94% agreed that mixed meetings of this type are useful in enhancing networking between the different stake holders in urolithiasis treatment and research. Finally, 85% would like to visit future mixed session meetings, and 89% would encourage their juniors to attend, too. Not only was a platform created to facilitate multidisciplinary exchange and networking, but delegates from several different backgrounds were encouraged to attend presentations in disciplines other than their own. The results of our survey confirm an overwhelmingly positive acceptance of this integrated multidisciplinary concept for stone meetings. As such, we are encouraged to continue with this concept in future conferences.

The formation of “managementhood” in a psychiatric hospital

This article examines how unitary management as a discourse of general management is able to permeate a psychiatric hospital through the management training program. The argument is that the management training program was a pervasive vehicle in reconstituting the “subjectivities” of those involved to the extent that it made the managers see themselves as the driving agents of the structural changes. The training program stressed the unitary managers’ freedom as they assumed responsibility without being ordered to, were expected to evaluate their actions, and were told to continue improving their managerial practices. The individual manager was put in the fore and given the power to drive the changes in their professional–managerial role. The central focus is how senior managers’ “managementhood” was constructed through training session meetings. Disagreements or oppositions to the program were refigured into administrative dilemmas by rephrasing disagreements as communication problems and by the interpellation to create “managementhood”: “What will you do then?” The training program meetings are analyzed as technologies that operate within a “dispositif” in the sense that the meetings shape the range of possible actions and outcomes of the organization and they also serve to disseminate the key organizing metaphors through which the organization and its participants are to plan and implement their activities. Actual meetings get agents to commit themselves to the employment of the organizing metaphors of the general management discourse.

Mindfulness training improves attentional task performance in incarcerated youth: a group randomized controlled intervention trial.

We investigated the impact of cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness training (CBT/MT) on attentional task performance in incarcerated adolescents. Attention is a cognitive system necessary for managing cognitive demands and regulating emotions. Yet persistent and intensive demands, such as those experienced during high-stress intervals like incarceration and the events leading to incarceration, may deplete attention resulting in cognitive failures, emotional disturbances, and impulsive behavior. We hypothesized that CBT/MT may mitigate these deleterious effects of high stress and protect against degradation in attention over the high-stress interval of incarceration. Using a quasi-experimental, group randomized controlled trial design, we randomly assigned dormitories of incarcerated youth, ages 16–18, to a CBT/MT intervention (youth n = 147) or an active control intervention (youth n = 117). Both arms received approximately 750 min of intervention in a small-group setting over a 3–5 week period. Youth in the CBT/MT arm also logged the amount of out-of-session time spent practicing MT exercises. The Attention Network Test was used to index attentional task performance at baseline and 4 months post-baseline. Overall, task performance degraded over time in all participants. The magnitude of performance degradation was significantly less in the CBT/MT vs. control arm. Further, within the CBT/MT arm, performance degraded over time in those with no outside-of-class practice time, but remained stable over time in those who practiced mindfulness exercises outside of the session meetings. Thus, these findings suggest that sufficient CBT/MT practice may protect against functional attentional impairments associated with high-stress intervals.

Medical standards seen from the perspective of changes in academic society themes: investigation of a lawsuit concerning the prevention of venous thromboembolism.

To determine whether a violation of the standard of care for prevention of pulmonary embolism by preventing deep vein thrombosis occurred in 1999. Themes from past general meetings of the three societies that comprise the Japanese Board of Cardiovascular Surgery that pertained to venous thromboembolism from 1999 to 2006 were examined and analyzed for an appeal hearing to determine whether a violation had occurred. The first pertinent session on a method for the prevention of pulmonary embolism was presented in 2006 by the Japanese Society for Vascular Surgery. Thus, the medical treatment performed in this case did not violate the standard of care in 1999. The "standard of medical treatment at the time", can be discerned by tracing consensus agreement at session meetings. If the consensus from each session is recorded, a more detailed analysis can be made of the agreement reached by board members.

Continuous Mortality Investigation Self-Administered Pension Schemes Mortality Tables. Discussion Meetings

INTRODUCTIONThe new graduated tables of self-administered pension schemes' mortality are now out for consultation.Members of the Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI) Self-Administered Pension Schemes (SAPS) Committee will present the graduated tables consultation document — Working Paper 32 (WP32) — at these Sessional Meetings, and will lead the discussions on the production and the use of these mortality tables. The discussions will concentrate on: how the tables will be used; which ones to use, and how to scale them for particular schemes; the different categories of pensioners for whom the tables have been produced; the treatment of younger and older ages; and the table names to be used.It is stressed that the mortality tables contained in WP32 are issued as part of a consultation process, and that they might be changed before final publication.

The Annuity Bulk Buy-Out Market. A Discussion Meeting

INTRODUCTIONThis Sessional Meeting takes the form of a panel discussion, asking the question: “Managing defined benefit risk management: is buy-out the future?”The following are subjects for discussion:— What is driving the increased interest in buy-out and other risk transfer solutions?— Will it last?— Who are the players in this market? Is there room for everyone? Is there enough capital?— What impact will current economic conditions have on decisions which trustees make?— What is the role of the Regulator, and how is regulation evolving?— Are products evolving to meet market needs?— What are the implications for actuarial pension consultants of the growing buy-out market?

Pension Scheme Funding and Sponsor Covenants. A Discussion Meeting

INTRODUCTIONUnder the new regulatory regime, it is a requirement that the trustees and the sponsors of pension schemes negotiate scheme funding according to a defined process. For some schemes these negotiations have already started; for many they are due to start shortly. What is clear is that the outcome of the first funding negotiation is critical, as it will set the benchmark for the future.This Sessional Meeting covers pension scheme funding negotiation, with an emphasis on:— the ways in which actuaries, trustees and sponsors can, or should, take account of the credit quality of the sponsor;— the lessons on negotiation drawn from other areas of finance; and— the role of the regulator.The meeting takes the form of presentations by three speakers, taking stock of the current situation, and the discussion follows.

Which Actuaries make the Best Risk Managers? A Discussion Meeting

INTRODUCTIONAs part of the Profession's drive to widen the range of careers open to actuaries, a risk management taskforce was established. It put out a statement headed: ‘We're All Risk Managers Now’. Reactions to this varied from: “What do you mean now — actuaries have always been risk managers.” to: “That certainly doesn't include me.”This Sessional Meeting takes the form of an open debate among actuaries from different fields about the role of risk management in their work:Which actuarial fields are most advanced in the area of risk management?Is a change of mindset required to make the most of the opportunities?What about the part played by the actuarial education system?Should actuaries look to broaden their experience at an earlier stage in their careers?The meeting begins with a contribution from a member of the Finance, Investment and Risk Management Board, and from three speakers, with presentations on the subjects of pensions, of life insurance and of general insurance. The discussion which follows gives speakers the chance to say what they think and to help to shape the future strategy of the profession in the process.

Is there a Retirement Savings Crisis? Whither Pension Reform? A Discussion Meeting

INTRODUCTIONAs the national debate hots up, this Sessional Meeting is being devoted to the following important topics, which affect life, pensions and investment actuaries:— What should be the role of the State as pension provider — safety net or income replacement?— Should the State Pension Age be raised? If so, when and by how much?— Should the United Kingdom adopt a Citizen's Pension and scrap the State Second Pension and contracting out?— Should there be more compulsory savings for retirement? If not, how can a voluntarist system be made to work better?— What is the role for equity release?— How can consumers become better educated in financial matters, and what role can actuaries play in helping to achieve improved levels of financial literacy?These, and many other, challenging questions will be discussed.

Preliminary Report of the American Bar Association Task Force on Corporate Responsibility

The July 16, 2002 preliminary report of the American Bar Association Task Force on Corporate Responsibility recommends a variety of reforms in corporate governance through changes in listing standards, rules of professional conduct for lawyers and other practices. Recommendations in the report relating to corporate governance are: - A substantial majority of the members of a board of directors should be independent. - Corporate governance committees should consist entirely of independent directors, and be responsible for identifying and contacting potential independent directors. They also should recommend a corporate code of ethics and conduct, including a means for corporate employees and agents to advise independent directors of information about material violations of law and breaches of duty to the corporation. - Corporate audit committees should consist entirely of independent directors. They should be authorized to recommend or take action to hire or remove outside auditors, engage independent accounting or legal advisers, and establish policies governing matters that could affect the independence of outside auditors. - Corporate compensation committees should consist entirely of independent directors, and should recommend or take action on compensation for senior executive officers or engaging independent executive compensation and legal advisers as necessary or appropriate. - All material transactions between the corporation and a director or executive officer should be reviewed and approved by a committee of independent directors, taking into account fairness, the rationale for the transaction, and appropriate public disclosure. - The board of directors should adopt procedures for routine executive session meetings between corporate officers responsible for implementing internal controls and the corporate governance committee or the audit committee, or both. The report also recommends that public companies consider designating a lead independent director or an independent board chair, establishing policies to set board meeting agendas, considering policies to set term limits or rotate service on board committees, maintaining director training programs, and adopting procedures to evaluate the effectiveness of meetings, information flow, diversity of experience among directors and contributions of individual directors. The report proposes that a number of changes in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct be considered by the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility. The changes the task force proposes to the ABA Model Rules would: - Require lawyers who know or reasonably should know of misconduct by corporate officers, employees or agents to disclose the misconduct to higher corporate authorities, in some cases directly to the board of directors. - Broaden permission for lawyers to disclose information about corporate conduct that has resulted in or is reasonably certain to result in substantial injury to the financial interests or property of another. The report acknowledges that the ABA House of Delegates rejected a similar proposal in February, before many of the corporate failures occurred and before the task force was created. - Require disclosure of confidential information to prevent client conduct known to the lawyer to involve a crime, including violations of federal securities laws, which is reasonably certain to result in substantial injury to the financial interests or property of another. The report also urges creation of direct lines of communication for outside counsel to inform the general counsel of any potential violations of law or breaches of fiduciary duties to the corporation. The ABA Task Force has invited written comments, and the report will be considered at one or more public hearings, and expects to present final recommendations to the ABA House of Delegates this year.