Creation and Operation of a COVID-19 Pooled Testing Collection Site Prior to a CTC Rotation

ABSTRACT Introduction This brief report describes the process, used by the 1st Infantry Division (1ID) and Irwin Army Community Hospital (IACH) at Fort Riley, Kansas, for conducting pooled testing collection of over 2,500 Soldiers prior to a large-scale exercise involving multiple units. Materials and Methods The authors captured after action review comments on the process and results of their pooled specimen collection site. Pooled specimen test results were reviewed and classified according to Aberdeen Proving Ground criteria to determine the percentage of successful and failed pooled specimens. Results 1ID and IACH performed pooled testing collection and shipment of 2,684 specimens divided into 298 pools over 6 flight manifests. Of the 298 pooled specimens, 4 (1.34%) were found to be inconclusive or invalid, and the other 294 (98.7%) had sufficient number of human cells to be certified as SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) positive or COVID-19 not detected. Conclusion Pooled testing collection is a complex process that may continue to be a requirement for mass screening of COVID-19 prior to military operations. While planning should be tailored to the specific mission and unit, key factors that the authors feel are required for pooled testing to be successful in any situation are standardized training and personnel continuity, quality assurance, administrative oversight by the unit, and collaboration and communication between all involved entities.

Variation in criteria of examination grades from the perspective of “control rights” theory: An analysis of the grading of history as a subject in the new gaokao

Existing literature on national governance models has focused on the analysis of long-term, stable public organizational processes between different levels of governmental and social organizations. In contemporary China, a considerable part of the organization and implementation process in public services relies on cooperation among different local governmental institutions and social groups. This type of process is characterized by short-termism and instability. This paper uses the perspective of the “control rights” theory to analyze the relationship between the three parties: the principal, management, and the implementation agency in the case of the phenomenon of grading criteria variation in the grading of history as a subject in the gaokao (college-entrance examination) of Province X. This paper shows that although the relationship shows a high degree of correlation, the three parties do not belong to the same bureaucratic organization and lack administrative oversight within the process, which increases the uncertainty in negotiation and maneuvering, resulting in two issues: First, the principal party and management party often have divergent views on targets. With the advantage of controlling incentive distribution, the principal party is able to involve itself in the inspection and evaluation of policy implementation, and therefore maintains the ability to arbitrarily intervene in the process. Second, implementation agency behavior is constantly influenced and modified by feedback from the principal party and the management party, and vice versa. In the process of continuous feedback and adjustment, the three parties gradually reach their own shared understanding of policy implementation that becomes the cause of local variation in grading standards. This paper suggests that unstable public organization process is an important area of study on contemporary Chinese governance. Control rights theory can be further explored as an analytic tool and strategies of various social forces in gaining organizational control should also be investigated in depth.

Multilevel cooperation in the EU resolution of cross-border bank groups: lessons from the non-euro area Member States joining the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM)

Cross-border banking presents a unique set of challenges in the EU from the perspective of arranging administrative oversight structures. Structuring cooperation between different EU and national authorities in a way which is conducive to trust-building and mutual engagement is an essential condition for overcoming disintegrative tendencies in the internal market. To assess how the existing EU arrangements fare in this regard in the context of EU resolution law, this article comparatively analyses the different models of multilevel administrative cooperation in the post-crisis EU framework. These are specifically the centralised model of the European Banking Union (Single Resolution Mechanism) and the relatively looser networked model of the resolution colleges. The multilevel cooperation under both models is nuanced given the distinct roles of the national resolution authorities, EU agencies and the differentiated status of non-euro area Member States in the EBU (Croatia, Bulgaria). The article’s findings allow to identify specific problems of constitutional nature pertaining to the accountability of administrative cooperation, equality of Member States and the implications of Meroni doctrine’s distortive effects.

Implications of State Scope-of-Practice Regulations for Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Nurse Practitioner Roles

Nurse practitioner (NP) advocacy efforts often focus on attaining full practice authority. While the effects of full practice authority in primary care are well described, implications for hospital-based NPs are less clear and may differ because of hospitals’ team-based care and administrative structure. This study examines associations between state scope-of-practice (SSOP) and clinical roles of hospital-based pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) NPs. We conducted a national survey to assess clinical roles of PICU NPs including daily patient care, procedural, and consultation responsibilities as well as hospital-level administrative oversight practices. We classified SSOP as full or limited (reduced or restricted SSOP) practice. We present descriptive statistics and evaluate differences in clinical roles and hospital-level administrative oversight based on SSOP. The final sample included 55 medical directors and 58 lead (senior or supervisory) NPs from 93 of the 140 (66.4%) PICUs with NPs. There were no significant differences in daily patient care, procedural, or consultation responsibilities based on SSOP ( p > .05). However, NPs in full practice authority states were more likely to bill for care than those in limited practice states (66.7% vs. 31.8%, p = .003), while those in limited practice states were more likely to report to advanced practice managers (36.7% vs. 13%, p = .03). For PICU NPs, SSOP was not associated with variation in clinical responsibilities; conversely, there were differences in billing and reporting practices. Future work is needed to understand implications of variation in hospital-level administrative oversight.

The Post Office Window, 1880–92

Chapter 5 focuses on the role of post offices and postmasters in western towns during the 1880s. Small-town post offices exemplified the US Post’s localized agency model at work, offering a much different perspective on the history of the American state than a traditional bureaucratic framework. Post offices defined the spatial practices of local communities. Whoever housed the post office on their premises enjoyed a regular stream of potential customers into their place of business. This made postmaster appointments highly sought-after positions that provided the main source of political patronage for whichever party controlled the presidency. There was no clear division between public and private space in local post offices, as postmasters simultaneously ran stores, sold magazine subscriptions, and acted as agents for telegraph and express companies. Finally, the agency model meant that post offices operated with little administrative oversight and routinely frustrated attempts at centralized reform.

Administrative oversight: improving compliance practices

The main purpose of the research is to determine the goals, objectives and functions of administrative supervision and develop proposals for improving the legislation of the Russian Federation regulating issues related to the implementation of administrative supervision. Research methods: general scientific methods (analysis and synthesis, logical methods) and private scientific methods of cognition (formally-legally, specifically-sociological etc.). Outcome: the author’s version of the administrative supervision goals and objectives set out in the regulatory documents of the Russian Federation is proposed: 1. Administrative supervision is established to prevent the commission of crimes and other offences by persons. 2. The administrative supervision focuses on implementation by the internal affairs bodies of supervision over the observance by supervised persons of temporary restrictions on their rights and freedoms, as well as over the fulfillment of their duties stipulated by the related federal law; identification of violations by those under the supervision and taking measures in accordance with the law; individual preventive treatment of such persons. The novelty of the study is due to an integrated approach to the research into the goals, objectives and functions of administrative supervision and the developed proposals for improving the Russian legislation regulating issues in that area.

Media literacy education in higher education policy : pedagogical choices and learning outcomes

This study proposes a participatory pedagogical framework founded on critical thinking as a method for analysis, reflection, and creative production of media through an understanding of the ways in which media literacy is being taught in higher education institutions in the United States. A qualitative design was utilized that included techniques of content and ethnographic analysis to focus on shared patterns across a sample of higher education courses in the U.S. containing elements of media literacy instruction. This study has found inconsistencies in the pedagogical approaches being utilized, a misunderstanding of the critical thinking and inquiry-based learning methods required for a critical field such as media literacy, and the lack of administrative oversight or policy support as key factors contributing to the discrepancies in media literacy's instruction and learning outcomes. Implications include recommendations for the field to consolidate theoretical frameworks, modifications to teaching, and policy and administrative advocacy efforts.

Research Initiatives in Accounting Education: Developing and Utilizing Faculty

ABSTRACT This essay addresses key needs for research in five areas related to developing and utilizing accounting faculty: faculty development (the backgrounds of who enters academia, how these individuals are trained in doctoral programs, and what advice is given to them), faculty management (the ongoing performance measurement and reward systems that are applied to individual faculty members), faculty portfolio (who provides administrative oversight, how workloads may vary across individuals, and how faculty are utilized), departmental culture (broader issues of culture), and academic freedom (the climate of academic freedom). Within each area, we pose research questions designed to provide faculty members and administrators with insights to enhance the development and utilization of accounting faculty.

Staffing, Financial, and Administrative Oversight Models and Rates of Injury in Collegiate Athletes

Context Structural features of health care environments are associated with patient health outcomes, but these relationships are not well understood in sports medicine. Objective To evaluate the association between athlete injury outcomes and structural measures of health care at universities: (1) clinicians per athlete, (2) financial model of the sports medicine department, and (3) administrative reporting structure of the sports medicine department. Design Descriptive epidemiology study. Setting Collegiate sports medicine programs. Patients or Other Participants Colleges that contribute data to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Injury Surveillance Program. Main Outcome Measure(s) We combined injury data from the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program, sports medicine staffing data from NCAA Research, athletic department characteristics from the United States Department of Education, and financial and administrative oversight model data from a previous survey. Rates of injury, reinjury, concussion, and time loss (days) in NCAA athletes. Results Compared with schools that had an average number of clinicians per athlete, schools 1 standard deviation above average had a 9.5% lower injury incidence (103.6 versus 93.7 per 10000 athlete-exposures [AEs]; incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 0.905, P < .001), 2.7% lower incidence of reinjury (10.6 versus 10.3 per 10000 AEs; IRR = 0.973, P = .004), and 6.7% lower incidence of concussion (6.1 versus 5.7 per 10000 AEs; IRR = 0.933, P < .001). Compared with the average, schools that had 1 standard deviation more clinicians per athlete had 16% greater injury time loss (5.0 days versus 4.2 days; IRR = 1.16, P < .001). At schools with sports medicine departments financed by or reporting to the athletics department (or both), athletes had higher injury incidences (31% and 9%, respectively). Conclusions The financial and reporting structures of collegiate sports medicine departments as well as the number of clinicians per athlete were associated with injury risk. Increasing the number of sports medicine clinicians on staff and structuring sports medicine departments such that they are financed by and report to a medical institution may reduce athlete injury incidence.