Early College High School, Dual Enrollment, Traditional College, and Time to Obtain a 2-Year Degree

Early college high school (ECHS) and dual enrollment programs offer opportunities for students to work toward their 2-year degree while still in high school. The problem for this study was that the ECHS and dual enrollment programs had not been compared to see if they facilitated 2-year college degree completion compared to one another and to a traditional college program. The problem was urgent because there was a need to evaluate two different ECHS screening methods, assuming significantly less time to degree completion for the ECHS students. The purpose of this quantitative project study was to determine if the time to 2-year degree completion was different for the ECHS, dual enrollment, and traditional college students. Bloom’s taxonomy was used in consideration of differences in complexity of thinking between the three groups of students. Using a convenience sample of 208 archived records, the research question compared the mean time in months to degree completion for the three groups. A Kruskal-Wallis H-Test revealed that the ECHS students (n = 128) completed their 2-year degree in significantly less time (mean rank [mr] = 16.00) than the DE (n = 31, mr = 61.66, p \u3c .005) and traditional (n = 49, mr = 63.34, p \u3c .005) students. Because the significant difference was found, a chi-square test of homogeneity was used to evaluate an academic matrix (AM) and non-AM screening processes for ECHS students. A significant negative association was found for the AM group, resulting in a policy recommendation to continue the ECHS program with a modified application process to replace the AM screening with an orientation approach for ECHS students. Positive social change is achieved when students are placed appropriately in programs that facilitate expeditious degree completion while maintaining high academic standards

Mechanisms of C. Parvum-induced coagulopathy in mice.

I.v. injection of Corynebacterium parvum (CP) into C57BL and BALB/c mice caused profound coagulation changes, featuring thrombocytopenia, decreased fibrinogen, increased fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products, and a concomitant microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia. These changes were greatest on the 9th day after CP, with recovery by Day 21. I.p. injection caused similar effects but s.c. injection was ineffective. Radiolabelled-platelet kinetics and distribution after i.v. CP indicated disseminated intravascular coagulation with rapid fibrinolysis; EACA treatment exacerbated the thrombosis. The coagulopathy correlated with hepatosplenomegaly, and both were dose dependent. Splenectomy did not effect the coagulopathy, but indomethacin totally abrogated the changes, suggesting that prostaglandin biosynthesis is involved in the pathogenesis

Keys to Profitable Texas Sweet Potato Production, Storage and Marketing.

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Metastable lifetimes in a kinetic Ising model: Dependence on field and system size

The lifetimes of metastable states in kinetic Ising ferromagnets are studied by droplet theory and Monte Carlo simulation, in order to determine their dependences on applied field and system size. For a wide range of fields, the dominant field dependence is universal for local dynamics and has the form of an exponential in the inverse field, modified by universal and nonuniversal power-law prefactors. Quantitative droplet-theory predictions are numerically verified, and small deviations are shown to depend nonuniversally on the details of the dynamics. We identify four distinct field intervals in which the field dependence and statistical properties of the lifetimes are different. The field marking the crossover between the weak-field regime, in which the decay is dominated by a single droplet, and the intermediate-field regime, in which it is dominated by a finite droplet density, vanishes logarithmically with system size. As a consequence the slow decay characteristic of the former regime may be observable in systems that are macroscopic as far as their equilibrium properties are concerned.Comment: 18 pages single spaced. RevTex Version 3. FSU-SCRI-94-1

Test of the Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami picture of metastable decay in a model with microscopic dynamics

The Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (KJMA) theory for the time evolution of the order parameter in systems undergoing first-order phase transformations has been extended by Sekimoto to the level of two-point correlation functions. Here, this extended KJMA theory is applied to a kinetic Ising lattice-gas model, in which the elementary kinetic processes act on microscopic length and time scales. The theoretical framework is used to analyze data from extensive Monte Carlo simulations. The theory is inherently a mesoscopic continuum picture, and in principle it requires a large separation between the microscopic scales and the mesoscopic scales characteristic of the evolving two-phase structure. Nevertheless, we find excellent quantitative agreement with the simulations in a large parameter regime, extending remarkably far towards strong fields (large supersaturations) and correspondingly small nucleation barriers. The original KJMA theory permits direct measurement of the order parameter in the metastable phase, and using the extension to correlation functions one can also perform separate measurements of the nucleation rate and the average velocity of the convoluted interface between the metastable and stable phase regions. The values obtained for all three quantities are verified by other theoretical and computational methods. As these quantities are often difficult to measure directly during a process of phase transformation, data analysis using the extended KJMA theory may provide a useful experimental alternative.Comment: RevTex, 21 pages including 14 ps figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B. One misprint corrected in Eq.(C1

Impact of Load-Related Neural Processes on Feature Binding in Visuospatial Working Memory

BACKGROUND: The capacity of visual working memory (WM) is substantially limited and only a fraction of what we see is maintained as a temporary trace. The process of binding visual features has been proposed as an adaptive means of minimising information demands on WM. However the neural mechanisms underlying this process, and its modulation by task and load effects, are not well understood. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the neural correlates of feature binding and its modulation by WM load during the sequential phases of encoding, maintenance and retrieval. METHODS AND FINDINGS: 18 young healthy participants performed a visuospatial WM task with independent factors of load and feature conjunction (object identity and position) in an event-related functional MRI study. During stimulus encoding, load-invariant conjunction-related activity was observed in left prefrontal cortex and left hippocampus. During maintenance, greater activity for task demands of feature conjunction versus single features, and for increased load was observed in left-sided regions of the superior occipital cortex, precuneus and superior frontal cortex. Where these effects were expressed in overlapping cortical regions, their combined effect was additive. During retrieval, however, an interaction of load and feature conjunction was observed. This modulation of feature conjunction activity under increased load was expressed through greater deactivation in medial structures identified as part of the default mode network. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: The relationship between memory load and feature binding qualitatively differed through each phase of the WM task. Of particular interest was the interaction of these factors observed within regions of the default mode network during retrieval which we interpret as suggesting that at low loads, binding processes may be 'automatic' but at higher loads it becomes a resource-intensive process leading to disengagement of activity in this network. These findings provide new insights into how feature binding operates within the capacity-limited WM system

Schumpeter's Idea of a Universal Science

This paper deals with methodological principles of Schumpeter’s academic writings. Those principles led Schumpeter to create diverse works and were reflected systematically in some of his writings, where Schumpeter emerged as a theorist of science. Besides working on specific topics, Schumpeter dealt systematically with methodological issues in different works. Schumpeter’s History of Economic Analysis, in particular, must be regarded as the one study among his diverse works, which is considered not only his latest but also his most relevant analysis concerning social sciences and the role of economics in relation to sociology, history and other academic branches. The substantial preface of the History of Economic Analysis can be regarded as a manual on how to refer to different academic branches and integrate them into a coherent universal social science, which is far removed from being an autistic, narrow economic science of some modern representation. Although Schumpeter’s History of Economic Analysis has been extensively printed in several editions, the idea is that the preface especially reveals somewhat neglected thoughts in Schumpeterian discourse. While Schumpeter is mostly regarded as a pioneer of evolutionary economics, this paper argues that Schumpeter could also, perhaps primarily, be interpreted as a well-reasoning institutionalist aiming at a universal social science. From today’s point of view, Schumpeter is a truly interdisciplinary theorist

The Gracilis Myocutaneous Free Flap: A Quantitative Analysis of the Fasciocutaneous Blood Supply and Implications for Autologous Breast Reconstruction

BACKGROUND: Mastectomies are one of the most common surgical procedures in women of the developed world. The gracilis myocutaneous flap is favoured by many reconstructive surgeons due to the donor site profile and speed of dissection. The distal component of the longitudinal skin paddle of the gracilis myocutaneous flap is unreliable. This study quantifies the fasciocutaneous vascular territories of the gracilis flap and offers the potential to reconstruct breasts of all sizes. METHODS: Twenty-seven human cadaver dissections were performed and injected using lead oxide into the gracilis vascular pedicles, followed by radiographic studies to identify the muscular and fasciocutaneous perforator patterns. The vascular territories and choke zones were characterized quantitatively using the 'Lymphatic Vessel Analysis Protocol' (LVAP) plug-in for Image J® software. RESULTS: We found a step-wise decrease in the average vessel density from the upper to middle and lower thirds of both the gracilis muscle and the overlying skin paddle with a significantly higher average vessel density in the skin compared to the muscle. The average vessel width was greater in the muscle. Distal to the main pedicle, there were either one (7/27 cases), two (14/27 cases) or three (6/27 cases) minor pedicles. The gracilis angiosome was T-shaped and the maximum cutaneous vascular territory for the main and first minor pedicle was 35 × 19 cm and 34 × 10 cm, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our findings support the concept that small volume breast reconstructions can be performed on suitable patients, based on septocutaneous perforators from the minor pedicle without the need to harvest any muscle, further reducing donor site morbidity. For large reconstructions, if a 'T' or tri-lobed flap with an extended vertical component is needed, it is important to establish if three territories are present. Flap reliability and size may be optimized following computed tomographic angiography and surgical delay