The Social Function of For-Profit Higher Education in the United States

This study uses the competing Burton Clark\u27s Cooling Out Theory and Daniel Bell\u27s Theory of the Postindustrial Economy to examine the function that for-profit colleges and universities (FPCUs) play in American higher education and how it is different from non-profit traditional colleges and universities (TCUs). This was done through three sections of analysis. The first examined if students who enroll at these FPCUs are less academically prepared than those attending non-profit traditional colleges or universities. The second tested if academic preparedness is associated with postsecondary performance at FPCUs to the same degree it is at TCUs. The final section of analysis looked at FPCU graduates to see if they have different short-term job outcomes when compared to traditional college graduates. This research utilizes The Beginning Postsecondary Survey 2009- a restricted-use longitudinal data set produced by the National Center for Education Statistics that followed 16,700 first-time college enrollees from 2003 until 2009. This data set includes information on student demographics, academic performance, enrollment history, and job outcomes. The results of this study indicated that when compared to traditional college students, FPCU students are less likely to be academically prepared for college and are more frequently characterized by risk factors that previous research has shown makes it less likely they will complete their degree. This research also found that unlike TCUs, high school academic performance is not associated with post-secondary performance or likelihood of degree attainment at FPCUs. Finally, it was observed that FPCU graduates were less likely to have jobs related to their degree and earned less income than TCU graduates, but had about the same degree of job satisfaction

Ecohydrologically important subsurface structures in peatlands revealed by ground-penetrating radar and complex conductivity surveys.

The surface pattern of vegetation influences the composition and humification of peat laid down during the development of a bog, producing a subsurface hydrological structure that is expected to affect both the rate and pattern of water flow. Subsurface peat structures are routinely derived from the inspection of peat cores. However, logistical limits on the number of cores that can be collected means that the horizontal extent of these structures must be inferred. We consider whether subsurface patterns in peat physical properties can be mapped in detail over large areas with ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and complex conductivity by comparing geophysical measurements with peat core data along a 36 m transect through different microhabitats at Caribou Bog, Maine. The geophysical methods show promise. Peat horizons produced radar reflections because of changes in the volumetric moisture content. Although these reflections could not be directly correlated with the peat core data, they were related to the depth-averaged peat properties which varied markedly between the microhabitats. Well-decomposed peat below a hollow was characterized by a discontinuous sequence of chaotic wavy reflections, while distinct layering of the peat below an area of hummocks coincided with a pattern of parallel planar reflections. The complex conductivity survey showed spatial variation in the real and imaginary conductivities which resulted from changes in the pore water conductivity; peat structures may also have influenced the spatial pattern in the complex conductivity. The GPR and complex conductivity surveys enabled the developmental history of the different microhabitats along the studied transect to be inferred

The animate house, the institutionalization of the household in Neolithic central Anatolia

This paper explores the effectiveness of a domestic mode of production model in explaining the development of Neolithic households in South-west Asia, using evidence from the site of Boncuklu in central Anatolia. We present evidence that Boncuklu households were institutionalized through repetitive practice, highly structured and symbolically charged domestic activity, ritual and symbolism stressing the animate and transcendental nature of the house, relating to continuity and idiosyncratic identity display. The Boncuklu evidence also suggests supra-household groups, possibly bound together by certain landscape exploitation activities, were reinforced by their own distinctive ritual practices and symbolism in parallel with and probably in a certain tension with the cohesive tendencies of individual households, even in the absence of evidence of monumental non-domestic communal structures seen at some Neolithic sites. This suggests the domestic mode of production model does not apply well to Neolithic South-west Asia, certainly for long time periods and in certain regions

ECRG4 regulates neutrophil recruitment and CD44 expression during the inflammatory response to injury.

The complex molecular microenvironment of the wound bed regulates the duration and degree of inflammation in the wound repair process, while its dysregulation leads to impaired healing. Understanding factors controlling this response provides therapeutic targets for inflammatory disease. Esophageal cancer-related gene 4 (ECRG4) is a candidate chemokine that is highly expressed on leukocytes. We used ECRG4 knockout (KO) mice to establish that the absence of ECRG4 leads to defective neutrophil recruitment with a delay in wound healing. An in vitro human promyelocyte model identified an ECRG4-mediated suppression of the hyaluronic acid receptor, CD44, a key receptor mediating inflammation resolution. In ECRG4 KO mouse leukocytes, there was an increase in CD44 expression, consistent with a model in which ECRG4 negatively regulates CD44 levels. Therefore, we propose a previously unidentified mechanism in which ECRG4 regulates early neutrophil recruitment and subsequent CD44-mediated resolution of inflammation

Comment on "Forest clearance boosted power of Cyclone Nargis"

[Extract] This article implies that the destruction of the cyclone was intensified by recent loss of forest in Myanmar. However, neither the article nor those in the conservation movement making such statements have presented any evidence to support this. Much of the damage was caused by the 4 m storm surge and the associated flooding. There is, in fact, no empirical evidence to support the hypothesis that forest can reduce damage from storm surge or tsunami as the article also suggests. The comparison between cyclone Nargis and cyclone Sidr which struck Bangladesh in 1991 is, however, informative. But the difference in death toll between these events has nothing to do with differences in forests cover between locations as the article implies