Response to “Issues of Academic Support and Performance of Division I Student-Athletes: A Case Study at the University of Minnesota”

“Issues of Academic Support and Performance of Division I Student-athletes: A Case Study at the University of Minnesota” (Kane, Leo, & Holleran, 2008) describes the process used by the University of Minnesota to examine the current state of academics and make data-based recommendations for the improvement of academic support for student-athletes. This paper serves as a benchmark paper for university administrators, faculty, and athletics departments. Many universities have undertaken self-examination in parallel efforts, but few have either documented their process and/or been willing to publicly share the process or the data. The papers’ authors provide important insights into the factors leading to meaningful examination of the issues and the politics leading to significant changes. Too often, in program evaluation (which this study truly was), the investigator fails to incorporate the necessary steps to ensure the identification of the appropriate questions, to gather data to adequately address critical questions relating to decision making, or to strategically include the decision makers who ultimately have the responsibility and the power to implement recommendations. To that end, the work of the University of Minnesota is a model for such a process. Hence, identifying and extracting model processes and examining those processes for ways to improve them can serve to guide others who have similar goals for their athletics programs

Do Trading Derivatives Classification Affect Bank Holding Company’s Earnings Volatility And Firm Value?

This study examines the differential impact of bank holding companies (BHCs) that consistently report trading gains (successful speculators) and those that consistently report no gain or trading losses (unsuccessful speculators) on earnings volatility and firm value. Under Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 815 (previously SFAS 133- Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities), all gains/losses related to trading derivatives are recognized in current earnings; whereas, gains/losses on hedging derivatives are netted with changes in the fair value of the underlying asset/liability with only the ineffective portion of the hedge being reported in current earnings. Given differential accounting recognition and underlying risk factors, we expect and find that current period trading gains/losses lead to greater earnings volatility; however, the relationship becomes insignificant when BHCs consistently report trading gains (successful speculators) or no gains and trading losses (unsuccessful speculation). Further we find that successful speculation is significantly negatively associated with firm value, which implies that market participants perceive trading positions held by BHCs as high-risk investments regardless of the outcome of the trading exposure. The findings of this study should be useful to business professionals, bank regulators, and accounting standard setters in determining the economic impact of current accounting standards on bank performance, investors in evaluating the costs and benefits of bank’s derivative risk management policies, and accounting academics in evaluating the impact of current accounting regulation on bank derivative use

LESSONS LEARNED FROM EVALUATING PROGRAMS POR THE GIPTED PROMISING PRACTICES AND PRACTICAL PITFALLS

The world of gifted education is often guided by good theory and research, but sometimes we are not aware of some ofthe practical advice that can be derived from the evaluations of other programs for gifted ad talented students. In this article, I have used my experiences as a program evaluator in identifying both the strengths and weaknesses of programs to suggest common áreas of weaknesses in these programs recommend basic practices that have contributed to the success of gifted programs. The recommendations for administrators and teachers are organized around five categories which were first suggested by Renzulli (1975): program philosophy anddeftnition, student identification and placement, the curriculum, teacher selection and training, and program organization and operation. The basic premise for all high quality programming stems from a sound definition of giftedness and a philosophy for serving gifted students that is consistent with the definition and which is based on principies that are in accord with other educational philosophies of the school. In addition, the  philosophy of providing services should be aligned with the needs of the gifted student that are suggested by the definition that has been adopted. When careful consideration is given to this aspect of program development, there is increased likelihood that other components will also be high quality.Naturally student identification and placement should be an out growth of the definition of giftedness. Further, placement should be according to the needs of the students, not on the basis of fitting all gifted students to one programming arrangement and one curricular offering. It is also important that curriculum be based on the characteristics of the identifted students. One of the major shortcomings in curricular options for gifted students is failure to provide a curriculum that both satisfies Passow criteria (1982), that this curriculum should be curriculum that other students could not do, should not do, and would not do. In addition, the curriculum should be based on sound developmental principies, should reflect attention to increasing complexity, abstractness, pace, openness, independence, insight and transfer, and sophisticated levels ofresource use. Further, program offerings should provide opportunities for appropriate cognitive, social and emotional development of gifted students. The dimensión of curriculum associated with assessment must also be modified for gifted students to ensure they are leaming to strive for excellence in the absolute sense rather than relative to peers and that they are leaming to créate products reflective of the practitioners and researchers in the disciplines The aspects of teacher selection and training are based on both skill and attitude toward teaching the gifted. Teachers should be selected because they have a knowledge of the characteristics and needs of gifted students, because they have a sound knowledge of the discipline(s) they teach, and because they have the repertoire of teaching strategies to deliver a high leveland engaging curriculum. Finally, teachers need a continuing, sound, coherent and focused staff development program that provides coherent support in delivering a program focused on the needs ofthe students. Finally, successful programs are based on careful education of the general staff ofthe school, on a clearly delineated administrative leader with skills in program development and the time to apply those skills, and on adequate resources for the instructional tasks at hand.The last variable which is included in the category of program operation is evaluation, and I offer suggestions for the evaluator as well. These range from identification and involvement of the individuáis who are most impacted by the program, of evaluation of both the documents and thepractice ofthe program, and for maximizing the impact of the evaluation process

Comparative analyses of discourse in specialized STEM school classes

The authors detail the discourse patterns observed within mathematics and science classes at specialized STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) high schools. Analyses reveal that teachers in mathematics classes tended to engage their students in authoritative discourse while teachers in science classes tended to engage students in dialogic discourse. The authors examined variations in the type of discourse in relationship to the discipline being taught, the educational level of the teacher, and course requirements were also explored

The Long-Term Performance Consequences Of Strategic Partnerships In High Tech Industries

In this paper, we examine how inter-firm partnerships impact long-term operating performance. With a global economy, rapid product cycles, capital constraints and advances in technology, firms seldom possess all the capabilities necessary to maintain and grow market share. Consequently, firms rely on a variety of partnerships. Theory suggests that firms enter such relationships to improve performance through access to new products, new markets, or new capabilities. Yet, relatively little is known about the long-term impact of collaborative arrangements such as alliances and established major customer relationships, although such dual partnership arrangements can have a major impact on the firm’s performance success. Our empirical results indicate that inter-firm partnerships affect operating performance, but the impact often depends on the industry, the nature of the firm, and the type of partnership

Human resource outsourcing: Market and operating performance effects of administrative HR functions

Using event study methodology and two-stage regression analysis on a sample of firms announcing human resource outsourcing (HRO) contracts, this study tests the association between administrative HRO and firm-level capital market and long run operating performance, with archival financial data controlling for endogeneity and outsourcing decision optimality. The results demonstrate that the equity capital market responds positively to client firms announcing administrative HRO, particularly service firms and those outsourcing transactional HR tasks. Additional statistical analysis shows that suboptimal outsourcing is negatively associated with long run operating performance measured as return on assets and operating return on assets. This study contributes to outsourcing literature by more precisely quantifying outsourcing performance through archival financial data and employing capital market empirical tests. Further, it controls for outsourcing decision optimality in examining long run operating performance effects. This research focuses on HR, a critical function within the firm and value enhancing to the firm

Characterizing Long COVID: Deep Phenotype of a Complex Condition.

BACKGROUND: Numerous publications describe the clinical manifestations of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC or long COVID ), but they are difficult to integrate because of heterogeneous methods and the lack of a standard for denoting the many phenotypic manifestations. Patient-led studies are of particular importance for understanding the natural history of COVID-19, but integration is hampered because they often use different terms to describe the same symptom or condition. This significant disparity in patient versus clinical characterization motivated the proposed ontological approach to specifying manifestations, which will improve capture and integration of future long COVID studies. METHODS: The Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) is a widely used standard for exchange and analysis of phenotypic abnormalities in human disease but has not yet been applied to the analysis of COVID-19. FINDINGS: We identified 303 articles published before April 29, 2021, curated 59 relevant manuscripts that described clinical manifestations in 81 cohorts three weeks or more following acute COVID-19, and mapped 287 unique clinical findings to HPO terms. We present layperson synonyms and definitions that can be used to link patient self-report questionnaires to standard medical terminology. Long COVID clinical manifestations are not assessed consistently across studies, and most manifestations have been reported with a wide range of synonyms by different authors. Across at least 10 cohorts, authors reported 31 unique clinical features corresponding to HPO terms; the most commonly reported feature was Fatigue (median 45.1%) and the least commonly reported was Nausea (median 3.9%), but the reported percentages varied widely between studies. INTERPRETATION: Translating long COVID manifestations into computable HPO terms will improve analysis, data capture, and classification of long COVID patients. If researchers, clinicians, and patients share a common language, then studies can be compared/pooled more effectively. Furthermore, mapping lay terminology to HPO will help patients assist clinicians and researchers in creating phenotypic characterizations that are computationally accessible, thereby improving the stratification, diagnosis, and treatment of long COVID. FUNDING: U24TR002306; UL1TR001439; P30AG024832; GBMF4552; R01HG010067; UL1TR002535; K23HL128909; UL1TR002389; K99GM145411

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570