Does Location Really Matter? Exploring the Role of Place in Domestic and International Service-Learning Experiences

Although increasingly popular, international/global service-learning programs are not without critique; in fact, the role of crossing national borders in service-learning is highly contested. The purpose of the study discussed in this article was to explore this role of crossing borders within the context of a particular experience: participation in an alternative break (AB) program. The authors sought to understand whether there is an aspect of learning in specific places, namely learning across national borders, that is separate (and separable) from what happens in those places. Participants reported a high level of influence of their AB experience on both their intentions to volunteer and to travel internationally, although there were a number of differences between students who participated in domestic and international ABs. Mediation analysis showed that the relationship between program location and the influence of the AB on students’ plans to volunteer was mediated completely by features of the AB program itself, while the relationship between program location and the influence of the AB on students’ plans to travel internationally was only partially mediated by program features

Measuring Attitudes Towards the Use of Nuclear Power: An Analysis of a Measurement Instrument

A questionnaire was designed to obtain three independent measures of public attitudes towards energy systems, one of which is based on the concept developed by Fishbein. A sample of 147 university students was examined to investigate the meaningfulness of a set of 30 items designed to capture attitudes towards the use of nuclear energy. High correlations were found to exist among all the attitude measures taken, which indicated the appropriate selection and formulation of the attributes used. Analysis of the belief factor scores of the questionnaire yielded four factors: Societal Risks, Economic Benefits, Safety Considerations and Technological Implications. Comparison of sub-groups, pro and con the use of nuclear energy, showed significant differences in their perceptions of the four categories of issues. In addition, the Fishbein model was demonstrated to be insensitive to modifications of scaling as well as to the inclusion of an additional weighting parameter. A standard procedure for the data analysis is suggested

Race, Redlining, and Automobile Insurance Prices

Following Becker\u27s (1993) suggestion that tests for discrimination should attempt to infer whether profits differ for products sold to minorities and nonminorities, this article tests the hypothesis that racial discrimination affects market prices of auto insurance in Missouri. Compared with tests for discrimination in lending markets, our results are less susceptible to bias from omitted variables.Controlling for available demographic and coverage- related factors, we do not find that loss ratios at the zip-code level are negatively related to percent minority population. This finding is inconsistent with the hypothesis that racial discrimination increases premiums relative to expected claim costs for minorities

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Enacting Efficacy In Early Career: Narratives Of Agency, Growth, And Identity

Aim/Purpose: To explore how early career faculty in the field of higher education administration develop and enact their personal and professional identities. Background: Participants sought to understand themselves, to understand their environments and the “rules” of the academic “game,” and to reconcile conflicts between their own values and identities and the expectations and culture of their environments. Methodology: In-depth case studies of seventeen early career scholars in the field. Contribution: The participants’ experiences underscore important implications for mentoring and socialization that takes into consideration the unique motivation and identity development of aspiring and new faculty members. Findings: Identifies the early career period as one where new faculty are working to develop a strong internal foundation upon which they can manage the many challenges of their personal and professional lives. Recommendations: The findings point to implications for practice, both in graduate education and in departments hiring new faculty members

The Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: the atmospheric dispersion corrector

We present a conceptual design for the atmospheric dispersion corrector (ADC) for TMT's Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). The severe requirements of this ADC are reviewed, as are limitations to observing caused by uncorrectable atmospheric effects. The requirement of residual dispersion less than 1 milliarcsecond can be met with certain glass combinations. The design decisions are discussed and the performance of the design ADC is described. Alternative options and their performance tradeoffs are also presented.Comment: SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation 201

Phenylketonuria in South Africa - A report on the status quo

During the 1980s a pilot newborn screening programme for the early detection (and treatment) of amino acidopathies, especially phenylketonuria (PKU), was conducted by the Department of National Health and Population Development. The motivation for this pilot programme was the high priority accorded PKU screening in Europe and North America and the presumed similarly high incidence of this condition among South Africans of European origin. From a cohort of 59 600 newborns screened in the Pretoria area over a period of 8 consecutive years (1979 - 1986), only 1 case of PKU (and 1 of tyrosinaemia) was found. Statistically this result is compatible (Poisson distribution, 95% confidence interval) with a 'true' incidence of not more than 3/59 600 (or about 1/20000) newborns. It is concluded from this result and other relevant information that newborn screening for PKU and other amino acidopathies is not cost-effective and justifiable, especially against the background of prevailing demographic conditions and more pressing health priorities in South Africa. This particular screening programme was discontinued in 1986. The results and conclusions are presented here. for the record

Applicability and fairness of the oral examination in undergraduate psychiatry training in South Africa

Objective: There are several methods of evaluating medical students’ performance, such as written examination, oral examination and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Many studies have focused on the reliability and validity of these methods but few studies have explored comparison between these methods. Psychiatry is the only subject at the University of Stellenbosch where the final assessment consists of solely an oral component. The aim of the study was to compare students’ final overall and discipline specific examination marks (i.e. in the other subjects) with the examination marks in psychiatry, and to determine if content or structure (e,g. oral, written or OSCE format) of examination impacts more on the student performance in the examination. Method: 343 final year medical students were included. All undertook their psychiatry rotation at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa during 2008 and 2009. Data of marks obtained in all the disciplines during 2008 and 2009 were collected and class marks were compared with their final examination marks across all disciplines. Bland-Altman plots were used to assess the level of agreement between the class and examination marks. Cases below the lower threshold were compared to all other cases across all disciplines. The odds ratio for group status was calculated for gender distribution of examiners. Results: The psychiatry class mark and final oral examination mark provided similar measures within a width of 31.5. Cases below the threshold had poorer performance in two other disciplines. The gender distribution of the examiners (female-female) significantly increased the odds ratio for poorer performance in the oral examination.Conclusion: The results suggest that a group of students underperform in their final examination independent of method of evaluation and that the gender of examiners impacts on examination marks. Therefore future research should focus on identifying and modifying factors (including choice of examiner combinations) that contribute to the poor performance of medical students in their final examination, in order to help students perform better. Gender distribution of examiners should also be considered when examinations are structured and designed.Keywords: Oral; Medical; Student; Gender; Examiner; Performance; OSC