The Impact of Student Debt on Career Choices among Doctor of Public Health Graduates in the United States: A Descriptive Analysis

(1) Background: As gaps in the public health workforce grow in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, graduates of the schools of public health, especially Doctors of Public Health (DrPH), are poised to offer relief. While there are some known recruitment issues, student debt and debt impact on career choices are understudied. (2) Methods: In the present study, we perform a descriptive analysis of the potential impact of student debt on career choices among DrPH students and alumni in the United States using a cross-sectional national online survey. A total of 203 participants (66: alumni and 137: current students) completed the survey. Descriptive statistics, a chi-squared test of independence, and content analysis were used to analyze the funding situation and its impact on career choices. (3) Results: We found that (1) 72% of current DrPH students have zero funding support for their degree, (2) scholarship opportunities for a DrPH degree are limited, especially when compared to PhD programs, and (3) student debt impacts 59% of DrPH students’ and 29% of DrPH graduates’ career choices (about 49% of all respondents). (4) Conclusions: Student debt and a misunderstanding of DrPH are likely impediments to DrPH graduates participating in the public health workforce

Taking the Plunge: Requiring the ETD

It made sense for Caltech, the California Institute of Technology (a private, technically focused, U.S. university, http://www.caltech.edu), to go electronic when it comes to theses. It took, however, more than three years: From March 1999 when Prof. Ed Fox of the Virginia Technical University spoke at Caltech to July 2002 when ETDs became required for all PhD candidates. How was it done and what are the lessons learned

Inertial gyre solutions from a primitive equation ocean model

A numerical exploration of inertial equilibrium states obtained with a primitive equation ocean model suggests that they can be described using statistical mechanics theory developed in the framework of quasi-geostrophy. The performance of the numerical model is first assessed with respect to the quasi-geostrophic model considering a series of experiments in the quasi-geostrophic range, in a closed basin with flat bottom and varying Rossby numbers. The results show that our model is consistent with the quasi-geostrophic model even in terms of dependence from boundary conditions and eddy viscosity values, and that the free surface contribution is negligible. As in the quasi-geostrophic experiments, a tendency toward Fofonoff flows is observed. This tendency remains in a second series of experiments performed outside the quasi-geostrophic range, namely with flows with higher Rossby numbers and with steep topography, characterized by sloping boundaries with an order one fractional change in the depth. It is only close to the boundaries that ageostrophic effects modify the flows. In conclusion, the fact that statistical mechanics theory, initially developed in the framework of quasi-geostrophy, holds for more realistic flows with steep topography supports development of subgrid scale parameterizations based on statistical mechanics theory, to be used in realistic general circulation models

Experimental and numerical investigation on mixing and axial dispersion in Taylor-Couette flow patterns

Taylor-Couette flows between two concentric cylinders have great potential applications in chemical engineering. They are particularly convenient for two-phase small scale devices enabling solvent extraction operations. An experimental device was designed with this idea in mind. It consists of two concentric cylinders with the inner one rotating and the outer one fixed. Moreover, a pressure driven axial flow can be superimposed. Taylor-Couette flow is known to evolve towards turbulence through a sequence of successive hydrodynamic instabilities. Mixing characterized by an axial dispersion coefficient is extremely sensitive to these flow bifurcations, which may lead to flawed modelling of the coupling between flow and mass transfer. This particular point has been studied using experimental and numerical approaches. Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of the flow have been carried out. The effective diffusion coefficient was estimated using particles tracking in the different Taylor-Couette regimes. Simulation results have been compared with literature data and also with our own experimental results. The experimental study first consists in visualizing the vortices with a small amount of particles (Kalliroscope) added to the fluid. Tracer residence time distribution (RTD) is used to determine dispersion coefficients. Both numerical and experimental results show a significant effect of the flow structure on the axial dispersion

Stakeholder Views Regarding a Health Impact Fund (HIF), to Incentivise Pharmaceutical Innovation Relevant to Diseases of Poverty

The HIF scheme, aims to create an alternative (Patent-2), to the existing Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regime for rewarding pharmaceutical innovations through monopoly patents. Innovators would choose between the traditional IPR approach and the Patent-2 system to recoup innovation costs. Under Patent-2, reward would be based on the positive impact of the innovation on health globally. A two-stage, international, expert stakeholder Delphi survey (N=25) was conducted to identify stakeholder requirements for acceptance and implementation of Patent-2. Broad stakeholder support for the scheme was identified. Some practical issues were identified which require resolution. A larger survey (N=84 international stakeholders) was used to validate these findings. Results broadly corroborated the conclusions of the Delphi survey

OpenURL-Aware ETDs

Chapter on "OpenURL-Aware ETDs" from the book "Electronic Theses and Dissertations: a Sourcebook for Educators, Students, and Librarians," edited by Edward A. Fox, Shahrooz Feizabadi, Joseph M. Moxley, Christian R. Weisser. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc., c2004

Estimating the Need for Social Care Services for Adults with Disabilities in England 2012-2030

Executive summary The aim of the project was to estimate changes in the need for social care services for adults with disabilities in England between 2012 and 2030. The project built upon and extended our previous work on estimating future need for social care services among adults with learning disabilities. The latest update of our previous work suggested that there will be sustained growth in the need for social care services for adults with learning disabilities over the time period 2011-2030, with estimated average annual increases varying from 1.2% to 5.1% (average 3.2%). Our previous approach was, however, based on a number of assumptions, some of which we believe to be highly robust, some less so. The most critical source of uncertainty in the model was in the validity of our estimates of the likely eligibility for social care services for new entrants at different levels of ‘need’, especially for potential new entrants with less severe disabilities. In our previous work we used estimates developed through a process of consultation with relevant stakeholders (primarily disabled people’s organisations and field agencies). One of the key aims of the present project was to test out and refine these assumptions through field-based research. Other aims of the present project were to: • update the estimates based on revised information; • extend the model to other adults with disabilities. Our proposed primary research involved attempting to collect information on the assessed level of eligibility for samples of 50 children aged 14-16 identified as having SEN in 10 CASSRs. In order to compensate for potential drop out we initially recruited 18 CASSRs who all indicated a strong commitment to participating in the project. Unfortunately, the fieldwork took place during 2010/11, a period of unprecedented turmoil within CASSRs in England. Despite extending the period of data collection by several months, only six CASSRs were able to provide any data and only two CASSRs were able to provide data on the target sample of 50 children. As a result, we were only able to collect information on 223 young people (45% of the target sample). Given the difficulties we encountered in our field work, we agreed with NIHR SSCR that we would also undertake some exploratory analyses of the association between SEN and the experimental disability statistics collected by DfE in Spring 2011. The aim of these analyses was to explore the relationship between SEN and disability (as defined under the Equality Act 2010) and to determine whether this information could be used to strengthen the estimates of assessed level of need for adult social care services. Unfortunately, the results of these analyses suggested that the disability data collected by the DfE were subject to a number of serious biases associated with social exclusion and socio-economic position that made their use untenable in the present project. We were, however, able to use the new field-generated estimates of eligibility to: (1) update our previous work on estimating future need for adult social care services for people with learning disabilities; and (2) extend this work to estimating future need for adult social care services for people with physical disabilities (including sensory impairment) in the age range 19-30. To estimate future need beyond this age point would require making important assumptions about the annual age-specific incidence (onset) of serious physical and sensory impairments in adults. There is, at present, insufficient information to make these assumptions with any degree of confidence. However, such information will become available in the near future with the release of Wave 2 data from the Office for Disability Issues’ longitudinal Life Opportunities Survey.1 All of the scenarios included in our estimation procedures suggested sustained growth in the need for social care services for adults with physical or learning disabilities over the time period 2012-2030. • For younger adults with physical disabilities compound annual growth rates vary from 1.8% to 6.5%. A ‘no growth’ scenario in the number of users of adult social care services for young adults with physical disabilities could only be achieved by either cutting services to existing users or by rationing access to services to young adults with physical disabilities with ‘critical’ need and 61% of those with ‘substantial’ need. • For adults with learning disabilities compound annual growth rates vary from 2.0% to 2.7%. A ‘no growth’ scenario in the number of users of adult social care services for adults with learning disabilities could only be achieved by either cutting services to existing users or by rationing access to services to young people with learning disabilities with ‘critical’ need and just 25% of those with substantial need. As we have argued above, rationing social care to people with critical or substantial needs is inconsistent with the policy objective strongly emphasised in Putting People First2 of adopting a more preventative approach to social care.3-5 There are a number of factors that would have an impact on future need that we were not able to take into account. These included: • Effects due to international migration; • Changes in the incidence of disability over time; • Changes in mortality rates among people with disabilities over time. It must be stressed that our predictions are based on estimates of ‘need’ rather than ‘demand’. Changes in demand are likely to outstrip changes in need due to a variety of factors combining to reduce the capacity of informal support networks to provide care, networks that have primarily relied on the unpaid labour of women. These factors include: • Increases in lone parent families6 • Increasing rates of maternal employment6 • Increases in the percentage of older people with learning disabilities (whose parents are likely to have died or be very frail)7 8 • Changing expectations among families regarding the person’s right to an independent life

A regional Bayesian POT model for flood frequency analysis

Flood frequency analysis is usually based on the fitting of an extreme value distribution to the local streamflow series. However, when the local data series is short, frequency analysis results become unreliable. Regional frequency analysis is a convenient way to reduce the estimation uncertainty. In this work, we propose a regional Bayesian model for short record length sites. This model is less restrictive than the index flood model while preserving the formalism of "homogeneous regions". The performance of the proposed model is assessed on a set of gauging stations in France. The accuracy of quantile estimates as a function of the degree of homogeneity of the pooling group is also analysed. The results indicate that the regional Bayesian model outperforms the index flood model and local estimators. Furthermore, it seems that working with relatively large and homogeneous regions may lead to more accurate results than working with smaller and highly homogeneous regions