Qualitative Data Analysis Challenges in Co-Designing Educational Technology Systems for Refugee Children

There is a growing interest in the potential for technology to facilitate emergency education of refugee children. But designing in this space requires knowledge of the displaced population and the contextual dynamics surrounding it. Design should therefore be informed by both existing research across relevant disciplines, and from those who are on the ground facing the problem in real life. This paper describes a process that is based on literature from emergency education, student engagement and motivation, educational technology, and participatory design. We describe how this process was implemented leading to the design of a digital learning space for children living in a refugee camp in Greece. The challenge of data analysis is critical, as the qualitative data in the process is elicited from activities of various natures and thus moving from qualitative data to designs is a critical challenge that we are looking to cover for our process to be complete and applicable. We discuss some of the challenges that can be expected in such context

Specifying Exposure Classification Parameters for Sensitivity Analysis: Family Breast Cancer History

One of the challenges to implementing sensitivity analysis for exposure misclassification is the process of specifying the classification proportions (eg, sensitivity and specificity). The specification of these assignments is guided by three sources of information: estimates from validation studies, expert judgment, and numerical constraints given the data. The purpose of this teaching paper is to describe the process of using validation data and expert judgment to adjust a breast cancer odds ratio for misclassification of family breast cancer history. The parameterization of various point estimates and prior distributions for sensitivity and specificity were guided by external validation data and expert judgment. We used both nonprobabilistic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses to investigate the dependence of the odds ratio estimate on the classification error. With our assumptions, a wider range of odds ratios adjusted for family breast cancer history misclassification resulted than portrayed in the conventional frequentist confidence interval.Children's Cancer Research Fund, Minneapolis, MN, US

An A2_2 Bailey lemma and Rogers--Ramanujan-type identities

Using new $q$-functions recently introduced by Hatayama et al. and by (two of) the authors, we obtain an A_2 version of the classical Bailey lemma. We apply our result, which is distinct from the A_2 Bailey lemma of Milne and Lilly, to derive Rogers-Ramanujan-type identities for characters of the W_3 algebra.Comment: AMS-LaTeX, 25 page

Parents\u27 Knowledge and Attitudes About Immunization in India

Childhood immunization is acknowledged as being a crucial health intervention for children. Immunization rates of children may vary depending on their parents\u27 knowledge and attitudes about the issue. The focus of this study is on parents\u27 knowledge and attitudes about immunization, and employs Urie Bronfenbrenner\u27s ecological systems theory. A questionnaire was administered to 233 parents in India to explore the issues of parental immunization knowledge and attitudes. Correlates of parental knowledge and attitudes that were explored included gender, education, respondents\u27 immunization status, and children\u27s immunization status. Sources of parental knowledge about immunization were also examined. Overall, parents in this sample had a high level of awareness and positive attitudes about immunization. Parents\u27 knowledge about immunization was correlated with their attitudes on immunization. Gender was correlated with parents\u27 knowledge about immunization, but not their attitudes, with females having greater awareness about immunization than males. Parental education, parental immunization status, and children\u27s immunization status were positively correlated with both knowledge and attitudes about immunization. Doctors and health care settings were the major sources of information about immunization for parents in this sample. Implications for research, policy, and education are discussed

Bounds on the Voter Model in Dynamic Networks

In the voter model, each node of a graph has an opinion, and in every round each node chooses independently a random neighbour and adopts its opinion. We are interested in the consensus time, which is the first point in time where all nodes have the same opinion. We consider dynamic graphs in which the edges are rewired in every round (by an adversary) giving rise to the graph sequence $G_1, G_2, \dots$, where we assume that $G_i$ has conductance at least $\phi_i$. We assume that the degrees of nodes don't change over time as one can show that the consensus time can become super-exponential otherwise. In the case of a sequence of $d$-regular graphs, we obtain asymptotically tight results. Even for some static graphs, such as the cycle, our results improve the state of the art. Here we show that the expected number of rounds until all nodes have the same opinion is bounded by $O(m/(d_{min} \cdot \phi))$, for any graph with $m$ edges, conductance $\phi$, and degrees at least $d_{min}$. In addition, we consider a biased dynamic voter model, where each opinion $i$ is associated with a probability $P_i$, and when a node chooses a neighbour with that opinion, it adopts opinion $i$ with probability $P_i$ (otherwise the node keeps its current opinion). We show for any regular dynamic graph, that if there is an $\epsilon>0$ difference between the highest and second highest opinion probabilities, and at least $\Omega(\log n)$ nodes have initially the opinion with the highest probability, then all nodes adopt w.h.p. that opinion. We obtain a bound on the convergences time, which becomes $O(\log n/\phi)$ for static graphs

EFFECTS OF ALTERNATIVE ACREAGE RESTRICTION PROVISIONS ON ALABAMA COTTON FARMS

The 1985 Farm Bill departs from recent farm bills in moving toward more restrictive acreage control. The change from a two- to a five-year average in calculating base acreage and enforcement of limited cross-compliance appear to significantly alter crop mix decisions on representative Alabama cotton farms.Political Economy,

To the Editor: A Response

When I teach students about research, I tell them that they must go to the primary source. They cannot simply rely on someone else’s interpretation of it. If they do not understand the primary source, then they need to look for context. It is irresponsible for scholars and researchers to only rely on one source and to lift quotes and citations from that single source. Moreover, I tell students they must always, always, always, provide citations to support their assertions. Boles’s lack of citations and sources in his section discussing archival privilege is extremely troubling. He avoids nuance in order to veer toward the dramatic—something more fitting for an editorial rather than an academic article

Review: Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

Review of Casey Cep\u27s non-fiction book Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee. Highly recommended