Conceptualizing Rurality in Education Policy: Comparative Evidence from Missouri

For education policies to be implemented most effectively in local contexts, policymakers must consider diverse school and community geographic characteristics. For example, rural geographies often present particularly important dynamics for public schooling, including challenges with school enrollment, school funding, and teacher labor markets. We focus on Missouri, where over two-thirds of its school districts are located in rural areas. Enrollment in these districts varies over 100-fold, yet little research describes the similarities and differences between these districts and how to appropriately distinguish between them to best advise contemporary policymaking. In this study, we analyze data from the American Community Survey, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to compare school, financial, teacher, and community characteristics to identify relationships between a district’s size, location, and community qualities. We focus our analyses on a comparison of NCES’ demarcation of rurality to one we construct based on student enrollment to highlight where conclusions may differ simply based on a lack of common definitional groundings. The findings help to distinguish rural communities and school districts and may prompt future rural education-focused research to appropriately tailor education policies to diverse rural contexts

A study of program relevance and student preparation in business education and administrative services curricular programs with respect to business employment experiences of the graduates of the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

The purpose of this study was to develop (1) a method of compiling first-hand information from the graduates, (2) a means of identifying those elements which have enhanced the ability of graduates to meet the demands of business employment, and (3) a basis for revision and improvement in the curricular programs offered by the Department of Business Education and Administrative Services. The problem was to examine the curricular programs offered in the Department of Business Education and Administrative Services at the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University to determine (1) the relevancy for business employment and (2) the extent of preparation received by the graduates of those programs at the university level. For purposes of this investigation, the descriptive survey was used. The procedures used in studying the curricular programs included: (a) making an analysis of the curricular programs pertaining to business education and administrative services subject-matter components, (b) making an analysis of the occupational experiences of graduates, and (c) determining the relevancy of the curricular programs to the business employment experiences of the graduates

Communicative dynamics of artistic collaboration

In his 2001 writings on artistic collaboration, art theorist Charles Green describes how some artistic duos and teams developed a ‘phantom’ element— a ‘third hand’ or collaborative identity independent from and yet related to the individual identities and voices of the artistic collaborators involved. This thesis examines communicative interaction characteristic of these types of collaborations in order to explore this phantom element: what it means, what it is, how it develops and its relationship to the artistic collaborators. Ultimately, it investigates how artists can develop a collaborative author through persistent dialogue and communicative interaction. Focusing on the communicative dynamics of collaborative art practices, the first part of this study illustrates how collaboration reworks conventional notions of authorship. Integrating communication theory and group studies, it then analyses different applications of the term collaboration in contemporary art theory, challenging writings that indiscriminately categorise a variety of participatory activities and roles as collaborative. In doing so, this research examines different types of collaborative relationships; it investigates the conditions necessary for collaborative communication to produce collaborative authorship, outlining various defining characteristics of collaboration. The final portion of this study focuses on collaborative situations in which all of these defining characteristics are met. Using semiotic and hermeneutic phenomenological frameworks, it traces the development of a collective consciousness, collective identity and collective voice. Incorporating research obtained through naturalistic enquiry and questionnaires, it examines how prolonged communication, shared ownership and shared decision-making contribute to the development of these collective entities, leading up to the establishment of a collaborative author. An accompanying DVD and booklet documents the practice-based portion of this investigation— Nomadics, a nine-month multi-media artistic collaboration. The DVD not only evidences the physical art installation that resulted from the collaboration, but also the collaborative practice, providing specific examples to help support claims made within the body of the thesis.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Questioning Identity: How a Diverse Set of Respondents Answer Standard Questions About Ethnicity and Race

Ethnoracial identity refers to the racial and ethnic categories that people use to classify themselves and others. How it is measured in surveys has implications for understanding inequalities. Yet how people self-identify may not conform to the categories standardized survey questions use to measure ethnicity and race, leading to potential measurement error. In interviewer-administered surveys, answers to survey questions are achieved through interviewer–respondent interaction. An analysis of interviewer–respondent interaction can illuminate whether, when, how, and why respondents experience problems with questions. In this study, we examine how indicators of interviewer–respondent interactional problems vary across ethnoracial groups when respondents answer questions about ethnicity and race. Further, we explore how interviewers respond in the presence of these interactional problems. Data are provided by the 2013–2014 Voices Heard Survey, a computer-assisted telephone survey designed to measure perceptions of participating in medical research among an ethnoracially diverse sample of respondents

Menstrual fluctuation in the symptoms of panic anxiety

Ten women with DSM-III-defined panic attacks (five with and five without agoraphobia) had symptom severity rated daily, weekly, and retrospectively through one full menstrual cycle. Substantial fluctuations in retrospective ratings of severity were observed, with the premenstrual week being rated as most severe. Daily and weekly ratings showed much smaller fluctuations in the predicted direction. Possible reasons for this outcome are considered.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/27149/1/0000143.pd

The Otterbein Miscellany - May 1965

https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/miscellany/1011/thumbnail.jp

Understanding uptake of digital health products: Methodology tutorial for a discrete choice experiment using the Bayesian efficient design

Understanding the preferences of potential users of digital health products is beneficial for digital health policy and planning. Stated preference methods could help elicit individuals’ preferences in the absence of observational data. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) is a commonly used stated preference method—a quantitative methodology that argues that individuals make trade-offs when engaging in a decision by choosing an alternative of a product or a service that offers the greatest utility, or benefit. This methodology is widely used in health economics in situations in which revealed preferences are difficult to collect but is much less used in the field of digital health. This paper outlines the stages involved in developing a DCE. As a case study, it uses the application of a DCE to reveal preferences in targeting the uptake of smoking cessation apps. It describes the establishment of attributes, the construction of choice tasks of 2 or more alternatives, and the development of the experimental design. This tutorial offers a guide for researchers with no prior knowledge of this research technique

Building Capacity for Cancer Research in the Era of COVID-19: Implementation and Results From an International Virtual Clinical Research Training Program in Zambia

DOI: 10.1200/GO.21.00372 JCO Global Oncology no. 8 (2022) Published online May 20, 2022. PMID: 35594499https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mozart/1024/thumbnail.jp

Perspectives of Zambian Clinical Oncology Trainees in the MD Anderson and Zambia Virtual Clinical Research Training Program (MOZART)

Published in The Oncologist, 2022;, oyac110, https://doi.org/10.1093/oncolo/oyac110 PMID 35689473https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mozart/1025/thumbnail.jp

Feasibility of trial procedures for a randomised controlled trial of a community based group exercise intervention for falls prevention for visually impaired older people: the VIOLET study

Background Visually impaired older people (VIOP) have a higher risk of falling than their sighted peers, and are likely to avoid physical activity. The aim was to adapt the existing Falls Management Exercise (FaME) programme for VIOP, delivered in the community, and to investigate the feasibility of conducting a definitive randomised controlled trial (RCT) of this adapted intervention. Methods Two-centre randomised mixed methods pilot trial and economic evaluation of the adapted group-based FaME programme for VIOP versus usual care. A one hour exercise programme ran weekly over 12 weeks at the study sites (Newcastle and Glasgow), delivered by third sector (voluntary and community) organisations. Participants were advised to exercise at home for an additional two hours over the week. Those randomised to the usual activities group received no intervention. Outcome measures were completed at baseline, 12 and 24 weeks. The potential primary outcome was the Short Form Falls Efficacy Scale – International (SFES-I). Participants’ adherence was assessed by reviewing attendance records and self-reported compliance to the home exercises. Adherence with the course content (fidelity) by instructors was assessed by a researcher. Adverse events were collected in a weekly phone call. Results Eighteen participants, drawn from community-living VIOP were screened; 68 met the inclusion criteria; 64 participants were randomised with 33 allocated to the intervention and 31 to the usual activities arm. 94% of participants provided data at the 12 week visit and 92% at 24 weeks. Adherence was high. The intervention was found to be safe with 76% attending nine or more classes. Median time for home exercise was 50 min per week. There was little or no evidence that fear of falling, balance and falls risk, physical activity, emotional, attitudinal or quality of life outcomes differed between trial arms at follow-up. Conclusions The intervention, FaME, was implemented successfully for VIOP and all progression criteria for a main trial were met. The lack of difference between groups on fear of falling was unsurprising given it was a pilot study but there may have been other contributory factors including suboptimal exercise dose and apparent low risk of falls in participants. These issues need addressing for a future trial