The Disability-Diversity Disconnect: Redefining the Role of Student Disability within the Postsecondary Environment

The current understanding of student disability continues to be misperceived as a form of impairment, rather than as a part of student diversity within the higher education environment. Although nearly one in ten college students have a documented disability affecting cognitive, physical, or psychological functioning, stigmatization of students with disabilities continues to occur in the postsecondary environment. The purpose of this study is to examine if there is a perceived difference in academic and social inclusion within the postsecondary environment for students with and without disabilities. Guided by the theory of intersectionality, minority group model, and social model of disability, this study also contributes the Disability-Diversity (Dis)Connect Model (DDDM), a new conceptual framework which establishes that student disability is an integrated, non-limiting identity within a student’s college experience. Data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09) was used to investigate academic and social integration of students with and without disabilities enrolled in four-year institutions. Descriptive and inferential analyses, including independent samples t-tests and multiple regressions, were conducted to examine the following: (1) the difference, if any, in socio-academic integration for students with and without disabilities in higher education, (2) the predictive influence of demographic characteristics including disability, race/ ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status on socio-academic integration in higher education, and (3) the predictive influence of disability type, race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status on socio-academic integration among students with disabilities in higher education. The findings of this study indicate that disability type and gender negatively contribute to students’ ability to socially integrate. Overall, findings suggest that students with non-apparent disabilities are more likely to struggle with social integration and have a potentially impaired sense of membership in the social sphere of campus

A New Theoretical Approach to Postsecondary Student Disability: Disability-Diversity (Dis)Connect Model

Disability is often viewed as an obstacle to postsecondary inclusion, but not a characteristic of student diversity. Additionally, current theoretical frameworks isolate disability from other student diversity characteristics. In response, a new conceptual framework, the Disability-Diversity (Dis)Connect Model (DDDM), was created to address disability as a multifaceted aspect of student diversity

Contraceptive use and sexual function: a comparison of Italian female medical students and women attending family planning services

Objectives: The aims of the study were to understand how education relates to contraceptive choice and how sexual function can vary in relation to the use of a contraceptive method. Methods: We surveyed female medical students and women attending a family planning service (FPS) in Italy. Participants completed an online questionnaire which asked for information on sociodemographics, lifestyle, sexuality and contraceptive use and also included items of the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). Results: The questionnaire was completed by 413 women (362 students and 51 women attending the FPS) between the ages of 18 and 30 years. FSFI scores revealed a lower risk of sexual dysfunction among women in the control group who did not use oral hormonal contraception. The differences in FSFI total scores between the two study groups, when subdivided by the primary contraceptive method used, was statistically significant (p < 0.005). Women using the vaginal ring had the lowest risk of sexual dysfunction, compared with all other women, and had a positive sexual function profile. In particular, the highest FSFI domain scores were lubrication, orgasm and satisfaction, also among the control group. Expensive contraception, such as long-acting reversible contraception, was not preferred by this young population, even though such methods are more contemporary and manageable. Compared with controls, students had lower compliance with contraception and a negative attitude towards voluntary termination of pregnancy. Conclusion: Despite their scientific knowledge, Italian female medical students were found to need sexual and contraceptive assistance. A woman's sexual function responds to her awareness of her body and varies in relation to how she is guided in her contraceptive choice. Contraceptive counselling is an excellent means to improve female sexuality

Classical properties of algebras using a new graph association

We study the relation between algebraic structures and Graph Theory. We have defined five different weighted digraphs associated to a finite dimensional algebra over a field in order to tackle important properties of the associated algebras, mainly the nilpotency and solvability in the case of Leibniz algebras

Procedura automatica per lo studio dei segnali registrati da una stazione tiltmetrica

La Tiltmetria costituisce un metodo di misura in continuo della deformazione del suolo attraverso il monitoraggio delle variazioni di inclinazione nel tempo sia in ampiezza che in direzione ed è particolarmente utilizzata nelle aree vulcaniche e sismogenetiche attive [Wyatt et al., 1988; Ricco et al., 1991; Ricco et al., 2000; Ricco et al., 2003; Ricco et al., 2007]. La rete tiltmetrica gestita dalla Sezione Osservatorio Vesuviano dell’ INGV è composta da 7 stazioni in registrazione continua ai Campi Flegrei, 5 delle quali (DMA, DMB, DMC, BAI ed OLB) sono equipaggiate con sensori di superficie e 2 (OLB e TOI) anche con sensori borehole; al Vesuvio invece esistono 2 stazioni con sensori di superficie (OVO e CMD) (fig. 1) [Aquino et al., 2006]

Ground tilt monitoring at Phlegraean Fields (Italy): a methodological approach

Among geodetic methods used for monitoring ground deformation in volcanic areas, tiltmetry represents the most rapid technique and therefore it is used by almost all the volcanological observatories in the world. The deformation of volcanic building is not only the result of endogenous causes (i.e. dykes injection or magma rising), but also non-tectonic environmental factors. Such troubles cannot be removed completely but they can be reduce. This article outlines the main source of errors affecting the signals recorded by Phlegraean tilt, network, such as the dependence of the tilt response on temperature and to the thermoelastic effect on ground deformation. The analytical procedure used to evaluate about such errors and their reduction is explained. An application to data acquired from the tilt network during two distinct phases of ground uplift and subsidence of the Phlegraean Fields is reported

Monitoraggio geodetico dell’area vulcanica napoletana: risultati della livellazione geometrica di precisione eseguita ai Campi Flegrei a settembre 2008

Lo studio ed ilmonitoraggio deimovimenti verticali del suolo ai Campi Flegrei (Italy) sono effettuati con continuità da oltre 30 anni, operando su linee di livellazioni preesistenti istituite e/o ampliate da vari Enti a partire dal 1905 (IGM, Genio Civile e lo stesso INGV- NA Oss. Vesuviano). Attraverso i dati rilevati dal 1970 ad oggi sono state acquisite molte informazioni sulla deformazione del suolo durante le varie fasi di bradisismo discendente e ascendente ed attualmente si dispone di un importante data-base che può essere integrato con i risultati ottenuti dalle altre metodologie geodetiche. In questa nota presentiamo i risultati della campagna di livellazione geometrica di precisione eseguita su alcuni tratti della rete altimetrica dei Campi Flegrei nel Settembre 2008. Dopo la fase di lento sollevamento, iniziata nel 2004 e culminata alla fine del 2006 con un valore massimo di 55 mm rilevato a Pozzuoli (Lungomare Pertini) al caposaldo n. 23, nell’area flegrea è ripresa una fase di lenta subsidenza caratterizzata da una evidente decelerazione durante il 2008 rispetto all’anno precedente. Per delineare meglio e dettagliare l’attuale fase del bradisismo flegreo, si è ritenuto utile effettuare il confronto tra i dati altimetrici acquisiti nelle ultime 3 campagne (2006, 2007 e 2008) da cui è emersa una evidente disomogeneità del campo di spostamento verticale osservato