Mentoring influence on socially responsible leadership capacity based on institutional Carnegie Classification

Higher education institutions are being called to provide leaders capable of operating in increasingly complex environments (Astin & Astin, 2000; Daloz Parks, 2005; Longo & Gibson, 2011; Rost & Barker, 2000). As immersion into these complex environments has been found to assist students in developing leadership capacities, mentoring is needed to help support students during these immersion experiences. Researchers have explored how mentoring influences leadership development (Campbell, Smith, Dugan & Komives, in press; Collins-Shapiro, 2006; Gleason, 2009; Jabaji, Slife, Komives, & Dugan, 2008), but it is valuable to study mentoring effects within different institution types based on Carnegie Classification, as different environments have different influences on student effects and outcomes. There currently exists a lack of literature in this area. This post-positivist, quantitative study utilized a secondary data set, the 2009 Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership (National Center for Leadership Programs, 2011) to understand how mentoring and leadership development compare among institutions of different Carnegie Classifications. Respondents in this data set attended 101 institutions in the United States that had responded to an open call in the summer of 2008. A subsample of 57,713 of the original 115,632 cases contained responses related to mentoring for this study. The Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership utilized the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale as its primary scale, which was developed by Tyree (1998) and measures the core values of the Social Change Model. Seven research questions provided the foundation of the study, which was operationalized in Astin\u27s (1993) Input-Environment-Output (I-E-O) Model. Variables in the study were analyzed utilizing descriptive statistics; inferential statistics, such as analysis of variance (ANOVA); and multiple sequential hierarchical regression analyses. The findings of this study provide insightful information for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers. Understanding how mentoring influences leadership development in different institution types can help improve practice and provide insight for additional research

Access to Effective Teaching for Disadvantaged Students

Recent federal initiatives in education, such as Race to the Top, the Teacher Incentive Fund, and the flexibility policy for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act are designed in part to ensure that disadvantaged students have equal access to effective teaching. The initiatives respond to the concern that disadvantaged students may be taught by less effective teachers and that this could contribute to the achievement gap between disadvantaged students and other students. To address the need for evidence on this issue, the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education initiated a study to examine access to effective teaching for disadvantaged students in 29 diverse school districts. Mathematica Policy Research and its partner, the American Institutes for Research, conducted the study, which focused on English/ language arts (ELA) and math teachers in grades 4 through 8 from the 2008 -- 2009 to the 2010 -- 2011 school year

Remote Sensing of River Discharge: A Review and a Framing for the Discipline

Remote sensing of river discharge (RSQ) is a burgeoning field rife with innovation. This innovation has resulted in a highly non-cohesive subfield of hydrology advancing at a rapid pace, and as a result misconceptions, mis-citations, and confusion are apparent among authors, readers, editors, and reviewers. While the intellectually diverse subfield of RSQ practitioners can parse this confusion, the broader hydrology community views RSQ as a monolith and such confusion can be damaging. RSQ has not been comprehensively summarized over the past decade, and we believe that a summary of the recent literature has a potential to provide clarity to practitioners and general hydrologists alike. Therefore, we here summarize a broad swath of the literature, and find after our reading that the most appropriate way to summarize this literature is first by application area (into methods appropriate for gauged, semi-gauged, regionally gauged, politically ungauged, and totally ungauged basins) and next by methodology. We do not find categorizing by sensor useful, and everything from un-crewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) to satellites are considered here. Perhaps the most cogent theme to emerge from our reading is the need for context. All RSQ is employed in the service of furthering hydrologic understanding, and we argue that nearly all RSQ is useful in this pursuit provided it is properly contextualized. We argue that if authors place each new work into the correct application context, much confusion can be avoided, and we suggest a framework for such context here. Specifically, we define which RSQ techniques are and are not appropriate for ungauged basins, and further define what it means to be ‘ungauged’ in the context of RSQ. We also include political and economic realities of RSQ, as the objective of the field is sometimes to provide data purposefully cloistered by specific political decisions. This framing can enable RSQ to respond to hydrology at large with confidence and cohesion even in the face of methodological and application diversity evident within the literature. Finally, we embrace the intellectual diversity of RSQ and suggest the field is best served by a continuation of methodological proliferation rather than by a move toward orthodoxy and standardization

A Novel Approach for Analysis of the Log-Linear Age-Period-Cohort Model: Application to Lung Cancer Incidence

A simple, computationally efficient procedure for analyses of the time period and birth cohort effects on the distribution of the age-specific incidence rates of cancers is proposed. Assuming that cohort effects for neighboring cohorts are almost equal and using the Log-Linear Age-Period-Cohort Model, this procedure allows one to evaluate temporal trends and birth cohort variations of any type of cancer without prior knowledge of the hazard function. This procedure was used to estimate the influence of time period and birth cohort effects on the distribution of the age-specific incidence rates of first primary, microscopically confirmed lung cancer (LC) cases from the SEER9 database. It was shown that since 1975, the time period effect coefficients for men increase up to 1980 and then decrease until 2004. For women, these coefficients increase from 1975 up to 1990 and then remain nearly constant. The LC birth cohort effect coefficients for men and women increase from the cohort of 1890–94 until the cohort of 1925–29, then decrease until the cohort of 1950–54 and then remain almost unchanged. Overall, LC incidence rates, adjusted by period and cohort effects, increase up to the age of about 72–75, turn over, and then fall after the age of 75–78. The peak of the adjusted rates in men is around the age of 77–78, while in women, it is around the age of 72–73. Therefore, these results suggest that the age distribution of the incidence rates in men and women fall at old ages

Estimation of Hazard Functions in the Log-Linear Age-Period-Cohort Model: Application to Lung Cancer Risk Associated with Geographical Area

An efficient computing procedure for estimating the age-specific hazard functions by the log-linear age-period-cohort (LLAPC) model is proposed. This procedure accounts for the influence of time period and birth cohort effects on the distribution of age-specific cancer incidence rates and estimates the hazard function for populations with different exposures to a given categorical risk factor. For these populations, the ratio of the corresponding age-specific hazard functions is proposed for use as a measure of relative hazard. This procedure was used for estimating the risks of lung cancer (LC) for populations living in different geographical areas. For this purpose, the LC incidence rates in white men and women, in three geographical areas (namely: San Francisco-Oakland, Connecticut and Detroit), collected from the SEER 9 database during 1975–2004, were utilized. It was found that in white men the averaged relative hazard (an average of the relative hazards over all ages) of LC in Connecticut vs. San Francisco-Oakland is 1.31 ± 0.02, while in Detroit vs. San Francisco-Oakland this averaged relative hazard is 1.53 ± 0.02. In white women, analogous hazards in Connecticut vs. San Francisco-Oakland and Detroit vs. San Francisco-Oakland are 1.22 ± 0.02 and 1.32 ± 0.02, correspondingly. The proposed computing procedure can be used for assessing hazard functions for other categorical risk factors, such as gender, race, lifestyle, diet, obesity, etc

Breast cancer incidence in black and white women stratified by estrogen and progesterone receptor statuses.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease presented by different phenotypes and that white women have a higher breast cancer incidence rate, whereas black women have a higher mortality rate. It is also well known that white women have lower incidence rates than black women until approximately age 40, when rate curves cross over and white women have higher rates. The goal of this study was to validate the risk of white and black women to breast cancer phenotypes, stratified by statuses of the estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: SEER17 data were fractioned by receptor status into [ER+, PR+], [ER-, PR-], [ER+, PR-], and [ER-, PR+] phenotypes. It was shown that in black women compared to white women, cumulative age-specific incidence rates are: (i) smaller for the [ER+, PR+] phenotype; (ii) larger for the [ER-, PR-] and [ER-, PR+] phenotypes; and (iii) almost equal for the [ER+, PR-] phenotype. Clemmesen\u27s Hook, an undulation unique to women\u27s breast cancer age-specific incidence rate curves, is shown here to exist in both races only for the [ER+, PR+] phenotype. It was also shown that for all phenotypes, rate curves have additional undulations and that age-specific incidence rates are nearly proportional in all age intervals. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: For black and white women, risk for the [ER+, PR+], [ER-, PR-] and [ER-, PR+] phenotypes are race dependent, while risk for the [ER+, PR-] phenotype is almost independent of race. The processes of carcinogenesis in aging, leading to the development of each of the considered breast cancer phenotypes, are similar in these racial groups. Undulations exhibited on the curves of age-specific incidence rates of the considered breast cancer phenotypes point to the presence of several subtypes (to be determined) of each of these phenotypes

Evolution of Preprofessional Pharmacy Curricula

Objectives. To examine changes in preprofessional pharmacy curricular requirements and trends, and determine rationales for and implications of modifications. Methods. Prerequisite curricular requirements compiled between 2006 and 2011 from all doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) programs approved by the Accreditation Council of Pharmacy Education were reviewed to ascertain trends over the past 5 years. An online survey was conducted of 20 programs that required either 3 years of prerequisite courses or a bachelor’s degree, and a random sample of 20 programs that required 2 years of prerequisites. Standardized telephone interviews were then conducted with representatives of 9 programs. Results. In 2006, 4 programs required 3 years of prerequisite courses and none required a bachelor’s degree; by 2011, these increased to 18 programs and 7 programs, respectively. Of 40 programs surveyed, responses were received from 28 (70%), 9 (32%) of which reported having increased the number of prerequisite courses since 2006. Reasons given for changes included desire to raise the level of academic achievement of students entering the PharmD program, desire to increase incoming student maturity, and desire to add clinical sciences and experiential coursework to the pharmacy curriculum. Some colleges and schools experienced a temporary decrease in applicants. Conclusions. The preprofessional curriculum continues to evolve, with many programs increasing the number of course prerequisites. The implications of increasing prerequisites were variable and included a perceived increase in maturity and quality of applicants and, for some schools, a temporary decrease in the number of applicants

Extension of Cox Proportional Hazard Model for Estimation of Interrelated Age-Period-Cohort Effects on Cancer Survival

In the frame of the Cox proportional hazard (PH) model, a novel two-step procedure for estimating age-period-cohort (APC) effects on the hazard function of death from cancer was developed. In the first step, the procedure estimates the influence of joint APC effects on the hazard function, using Cox PH regression procedures from a standard software package. In the second step, the coefficients for age at diagnosis, time period and birth cohort effects are estimated. To solve the identifiability problem that arises in estimating these coefficients, an assumption that neighboring birth cohorts almost equally affect the hazard function was utilized. Using an anchoring technique, simple procedures for obtaining estimates of interrelated age at diagnosis, time period and birth cohort effect coefficients were developed