Developing Student, Family, and School Constructs From NLTS2 Data

The purpose of this study was to use data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study–2 (NLTS2) to (a) conceptually identify and empirically establish student, family, and school constructs; (b) explore the degree to which the constructs can be measured equivalently across disability groups; and (c) examine latent differences (means, variances, and correlations) in the constructs across disability groups. Conceptual analysis of NLTS2 individual survey items yielded 21 student, family, and school constructs, and 16 were empirically supported. Partial strong metric invariance was established across disability groups, and in the latent space, a complex pattern of mean and variance differences across disability groups was found. Disability group moderated the correlational relationships between multiple predictor constructs, suggesting the key role of disability-related characteristics in understanding the experiences of youth with disabilities. Implications for future research and practice are discussed

Anthropogenic nitrogen autotrophy and heterotrophy of the world's watersheds: Past, present, and future trends

Anthropogenic nitrogen autotrophy of a territory is defined as the nitrogen flux associated with local production of harvested crops and grass consumed by livestock grazing (in kg N/km(2)/yr). Nitrogen heterotrophy is the nitrogen flux associated with local food and feed consumption by humans and domestic animals. These two summarizing characteristics (anthropogenic nitrogen autotrophy and heterotrophy (ANAH)) indicate the degree of anthropogenic perturbation of the nitrogen cycle by agriculture and human consumption: their balance value provides information on either the potential for commercial export or the need to import agricultural goods; in a watershed, their vector sum is related to the nitrogen flux delivered to the sea. These indicators were calculated for all the watersheds in the Global Nutrient Export from Watersheds (NEWS) database for 1970 and 2000, as well as for 2030 and 2050, according to Millennium Ecosystem Assessment scenarios. During this 30 year period, many watersheds shifted from relatively balanced situations toward either more autotrophic or more heterotrophic conditions. This trend is predicted to become more pronounced over the next 50 year

Nonequilibrium fluctuations in a resistor

In small systems where relevant energies are comparable to thermal agitation, fluctuations are of the order of average values. In systems in thermodynamical equilibrium, the variance of these fluctuations can be related to the dissipation constant in the system, exploiting the Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem (FDT). In non-equilibrium steady systems, Fluctuations Theorems (FT) additionally describe symmetry properties of the probability density functions (PDFs) of the fluctuations of injected and dissipated energies. We experimentally probe a model system: an electrical dipole driven out of equilibrium by a small constant current $I$, and show that FT are experimentally accessible and valid. Furthermore, we stress that FT can be used to measure the dissipated power $\bar{\cal P}=RI^2$ in the system by just studying the PDFs symmetries.Comment: Juillet 200

N:P:Si nutrient export ratios and ecological consequences in coastal seas evaluated by the ICEP approach

The Indicator for Coastal Eutrophication Potential (ICEP) for river nutrient export of nitrogen, phosphorus, and silica at the global scale was first calculated from available measurement data. Positive values of ICEP indicate an excess of nitrogen and phosphorus over silica and generally coincide with eutrophication. The sign of ICEP based on measured nutrient fluxes was in good agreement with the corresponding one calculated from the Global-NEWS models for more than 5000 watersheds in the world. Calculated ICEP for the year 2050 based on Global NEWS data for the four Millennium Ecosystem Assessment scenarios show increasing values particularly in developing countries. For further evaluation of the ICEP at the outlet of the rivers of the world based on measurements, there is a need for additional determination silica fluxes and concentrations, which are scarcely documented

"Whose data is it anyway?" The implications of putting small area-level health and social data online

International audienceThe planetary exospheres are poorly known in their outer parts, since the neutral densities are low compared with the instruments detection capabilities. The exospheric models are thus often the main source of information at such high altitudes. We present a new way to take into account analytically the additional effect of the radiation pressure on planetary exospheres. In a series of papers, we present with an Hamiltonian approach the effect of the radiation pressure on dynamical trajectories, density profiles and escaping thermal flux. Our work is a generalization of the study by Bishop and Chamberlain (1989). In this second part of our work, we present here the density profiles of atomic Hydrogen in planetary exospheres subject to the radiation pressure. We first provide the altitude profiles of ballistic particles (the dominant exospheric population in most cases), which exhibit strong asymmetries that explain the known geotail phenomenon at Earth. The radiation pressure strongly enhances the densities compared with the pure gravity case (i.e. the Chamberlain profiles), in particular at noon and midnight. We finally show the existence of an exopause that appears naturally as the external limit for bounded particles, above which all particles are escaping

Exploring Student, Family, and School Predictors of Self-Determination Using NLTS2 Data

This study conducted secondary analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) to examine the degree to which student, family, and school constructs predicted self-determination outcomes. Multi-group structural equation modeling was used to examine predictive relationships between 5 student, 4 family, and 7 school constructs developed from NLTS2 data and self-determination outcomes (autonomy, psychological empowerment, and self-realization) across disability groups. The pattern of predictive relationship between the constructs and self-determination outcomes across disability groups was complex. Only one construct—self-concept—showed a positive predictive relationship with all three self-determination constructs across most disability groups. Implications of the complex pattern of findings for research and practice are discussed

Cardiac re-synchronization therapy in a patient with isolated ventricular non-compaction: a case report.

Isolated ventricular non-compaction (IVNC) is a rare, congenital, unclassified cardiomyopathy characterized by prominent trabecular meshwork and deep recesses. Major clinical manifestations of IVNC are heart failure, atrial and ventricular arrhythmias, and thrombo-embolic events. We describe a case of a 69-year-old woman in whom the diagnosis of IVNC was discovered late, whereas former echocardiographic examinations were considered normal. She was known for systolic left ventricular dysfunction for 3 years and then became symptomatic (NYHA III). In the past, she suffered from multiple episodes of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Electrocardiogram revealed a wide QRS complex, and transthoracic echocardiography showed typical apical thickening of the left and right ventricular myocardial wall with two distinct layers. The ratio of non-compacted to compacted myocardium was >2:1. Cardiac MRI confirmed the echocardiographic images. Cerebral MRI revealed multiple ischaemic sequellae. In view of the persistent refractory, heart failure in medical treatment of patients with classical criteria for cardiac re-synchronization therapy, as well as the ventricular arrhythmias, a biventricular automatic intracardiac defibrillator (biventricular ICD) was implanted. The 2-year follow-up period was characterized by improvement of NYHA functional class from III to I and increasing in left ventricular function. We hereby present a case of IVNC with favourable outcome after biventricular ICD implantation. Cardiac re-synchronization therapy could be considered in the management of this pathology

Exploring Essential Characteristics of Self-Determination for Diverse Students Using Data From NLTS2

This study explored the impact of race/ethnicity on three of the four essential characteristics of self-determination—autonomy, self-realization, and psychological empowerment—directly assessed in the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2. Specifically, the impact of race/ethnicity was examined with six disability groups established in previous research: high incidence disabilities (learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, speech language impairments, and other health impairments), sensory disabilities (visual and hearing impairments), cognitive disabilities (autism, multiple disabilities, and deaf-blindness); intellectual disability, traumatic brain injury, and orthopedic impairments. Measurement equivalence was established across groups, but significant differences in the latent means, variances, and covariances were found suggesting a complex pattern of differences based on race/ethnicity within disability groups. Implications for future research and practice are discussed

Transmission of matter wave solitons through nonlinear traps and barriers

The transmissions of matter wave solitons through linear and nonlinear inhomogeneities induced by the spatial variations of the trap and the scattering length in Bose-Einstein condensates are investigated. New phenomena, such as the enhanced transmission of a soliton through a linear trap by a modulation of the scattering length, are exhibited. The theory is based on the perturbed Inverse Scattering Transform for solitons, and we show that radiation effects are important. Numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation confirm the theoretical predictions.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure