The sequel to Pyramid Response to Intervention advocates that a successful RTI model begins by asking the right questions to create a fundamentally effective learning environment for every student. RTI is not a series of implementation steps, but rather a way of thinking. Understand why bureaucratic, paperwork-heavy, compliance-oriented, test-score-driven approaches fail. Then learn how to create a focused RTI model that works.
Emergency Response to Domestic Terrorism analyzes the emergency response to the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. Terrorism is a complex threat, and the American government is expected to deter or intervene in every attack. For that reason, the government must be better prepared to respond to acts of terror. One critical element is to understand what constitutes an "effective response." To answer this key question, the author examined the existing literature and interviewed thirty-one elite participants in the emergency response to the bombing. The result is a unique qualitative case study that analyzes the response efforts undertaken after the bombing to draw conclusions about their relative success or failure. Emergency Response to Domestic Terrorism looks at the nature and interrelationship of bureaucratic structures involved in the response, the organizational networking between the response bureaucracy, and the impact of bureaucratic culture on the response. The work contributes to the existing literatures in both emergency response and bureaucracy. First, theoretical arguments about bureaucracies and their function are put to the test as they are applied to a specific crisis situation. Second, interview materials with key individuals who were on the scene of this American terrorist disaster are provided. Third, the emergency response literature is examined to determine whether the Oklahoma City bombing exhibited the anticipated response challenges. In addition, the work provides insights into the extent to which response communities are familiar with federal response guidelines. The overall results of the study are applicable to emergency response to terrorist incidents and to natural disasters. By bringing together the academic and the practical aspects of emergency response, the work will appeal to students, practitioners, and policymakers. Further, it will foster better understanding of public policy and public administration in general.
Viral vectors are superior tools for gene therapy and as a genetic vaccine platform because viruses have evolved to efficiently infect and transfer their genomes to cells. Several impressive successes in viral vector-based gene therapies have been reported in humans, including restoration of vision in patients with Leber’s congenital amaurosis by retinal gene transfer and cures for severe immune deficiencies by gene transfer to hematopoietic stem cells. However, the mammalian immune system has evolved in parallel to fend off invading pathogens such as viruses. Innate and antigen-specific adaptive immune responses against viral vectors and therapeutic transgene products pose serious hurdles for successful gene therapy. Pre-existing immunity in humans, resulting from prior exposure to the parent virus that forms the basis for the gene transfer vehicle may be derived from, often prevents efficient gene transfer. This problem also reduces our ability to use certain vectors for genetic vaccination or in anti-cancer therapy. For these reasons, the gene transfer community has been extensively studying the mechanisms of immune responses against viral vectors and has started to develop strategies and protocols to block or circumvent such responses. Choice, design and engineering of a vector as well as the route of administration/target tissue can be optimized/ altered to minimize immune responses or evade pre-existing immunity. Immune suppression and modulation strategies are being developed in order to minimize inflammation, prevent antibody or T cell responses against vectors, and to promote tolerance to therapeutic gene products. Combinations of these approaches will likely facilitate clinical applications of gene therapy for many target diseases and also aid in vaccine development.
When disaster strikes, our instinctive response is to make things better, not only as individuals but also as groups, organisations, communities and major institutions within society. With increasing climate-related disasters and the potential for future global pandemics, philanthropy will continue to play an essential role. Yet our knowledge of how philanthropic responses to disasters are motivated, organised and received is fragmented. This book is a step toward curating our existing knowledge in the emerging field of ‘disaster philanthropy’ and to building a robust base for future research, practice and public policy. The authors highlight unknowns and ambiguities, extensions and unexplored spaces, and challenges and paradoxes. Above all, they recognise that philanthropic responses to disasters are complex, conditional and subject to change.
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management
The education sector plays a key “external� role in preventing and reducing the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. It also plays an important “internal� role in providing access to care, treatment, and support for teachers and education staff, a group that in many countries represents more than 60 percent of the public sector workforce. The education sector can also have a critically important positive effect on the future: Even in the worst-affected countries, most schoolchildren are not infected. For these children, there is a chance to live lives free from AIDS if they can be educated on the knowledge and values that can protect them as they grow up. The authors of 'Accelerating the Education Sector Response to HIV' explore the experiences of education sectors across Sub-Saharan Africa as they scale up their responses to HIV/AIDS within the Accelerate Initiative Working Group, established in 2002 by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Inter-Agency Task Team on Education. This book demonstrates that leadership by the ministries of education and commitment from key development partners are crucial for mobilizing activities and that full participation of all stakeholders is required for effective implementation. This book summarizes the experiences of technical Focal Points from the 37 ministries of education in Sub-Saharan Africa, which are represented on the sub-regional networks for HIV and Education. These experiences prove that the education sector response can play a crucially important role in the multisectoral national responses to this epidemic.
