An observation on the bias in clinic-based estimates of malnutrition rates

Clinic-based data on malnutrition are the most readily available for following malnutrition levels and trends in most countries, but there is a bias inherent in clinic-based estimates of malnutrition rates. The authors compare annual clinic-based malnutrition data and those from four household surveys in Jamaica. The clinic data give lower estimates of malnutrition than the survey data in all four cases - significantly so in three. The size of the bias was variable over time, so the clinic data were not a good indicator of either levels of trends in nutrition status.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Early Child and Children's Health,Early Childhood Development,Health Systems Development&Reform,Regional Rural Development

Lessons We Learned from Avatars: Cultivating Meaningful Preservice Teacher Online Experiences During COVID-19 and Beyond

Like flight simulators used to train airline pilots prior to flying an actual airplane, mixed reality simulations provide an opportunity to interact with avatars in order to practice newly learned behaviors in an online environment. As teacher educators, we have used mixed reality simulations as a part of our coursework for the past five years. In this article, we discuss implications and lessons learned for teacher education practice and research in the online environment during COVID-19 and beyond based on our experiences using mixed reality

Panel. Pulp Faulkner

An Error in Canonicity, or, A Fuller Story of Faulkner\u27s Return to Print Culture, 1944-1951 / John N. Duvall, Purdue UniversityThe postwar recuperation of Faulkner within print culture occurs on two fronts, culminating in Faulkner’s receiving the Nobel Prize for literature in 1950. The first front is a story we know well: the construction of literary (or high) Faulkner created by Malcolm Cowley’s Portable Faulkner (1946) and the publication in 1950 of Collected Stories of William Faulkner. The second largely overlooked front we might call pulp Faulkner, the writer of crime and detective fiction published in mass-market paperbacks and magazines. Focusing on this second front, my paper looks closely at a different editor who championed Faulkner from 1944 to 1951—Frederic Danny, who edited Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine—in order to argue that Faulkner scholars have perhaps been too quick share Faulkner’s distain for winning second-prize in the first Ellery Queen detective story contest. In a number of ways, the first Faulkner novels to come back into print between 1947 and 1951 owe more to the mass-culture world of Dannay and Ellery Queen than to the high-culture world of Malcolm Cowley.On Faulkner\u27s B-Sides: Balance, Bonus, Bastard / Robert Jackson, University of TulsaMy paper interrogates an underappreciated pattern in Faulkner’s career: his turn to the popular at moments when his work on the more experimental “modernist” works was coming slowly, not generating substantial income, or both, and the relationships these works have with one another in composition, publication, and reception. In addition to short stories and screen writings, key examples include Sanctuary’s contextualization with The Sound and the Fury; Pylon in the context of, and as a respite to, Absalom, Absalom!; and the case study I will discuss in detail here, Intruder in the Dust in the context of A Fable, a novel that consumed Faulkner’s attention for more than a decade.Trashing Sanctuary / Kristin Fujie, Lewis and Clark CollegeThis paper attempts to think across the divide between high art and low pulp in Faulkner’s work by exploring the textual process that produced his greatest commercial success, Sanctuary. I propose that when Faulkner rewrote Sanctuary in order to make of it “something which would not shame The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying,” he did so by trashing it--cutting it up and touting its pulpish roots so as to sever the novel’s connections to the creative matrix that had produced his previous two novels. By recovering some of these connections, I explore how Sanctuary tapped into this matrix in radical ways, and how Faulkner’s trashing of the novel served to contain and defer volatile material that resurfaces at the heart of his subsequent work

Impact of farmer field schools on agricultural productivity and poverty in East Africa

Farmer field schools (FFSs) are a popular education and extension approach worldwide. Such schools use experiential learning and a group approach to facilitate farmers in making decisions, solving problems, and learning new techniques. However, there is limited or conflicting evidence as to their effect on productivity and poverty, especially in East Africa. This study is unique in that it uses a longitudinal impact evaluation (difference in difference approach) with quasi-experimental methods (propensity score matching and covariate matching) together with qualitative approaches to provide rigorous evidence to policymakers and other stakeholders on an FFS project in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The study provides evidence on participation in FFSs and on the effects of FFSs on various outcomes. The study found that younger farmers who belong to other groups, such as savings and credit groups, tended to participate in field schools. Females made up 50 percent of FFS membership. Reasons for not joining an FFS included lack of time and information. FFSs were shown to be especially beneficial to women, people with low literacy levels, and farmers with medium-size land holdings. FFS participants had significant differences in outcomes with respect to value of crops produced per acre, livestock value gain per capita, and agricultural income per capita. FFSs had a greater impact on crop productivity for those in the middle land area (land poverty) tercile. Participation in FFSs increased income by 61 percent when pooling the three countries. FFSs improved income and productivity overall, but differences were seen at the country level. Participation in FFSs led to increased production, productivity, and income in nearly all cases: Kenya, Tanzania, and at the project level (all three countries combined). The most significant change was seen in Kenya for crops (80 percent increase) and in Tanzania for agricultural income (more than 100 percent increase). A lack of significant increases in Uganda was likely due to Uganda’s National Agricultural Advisory Services. When disaggregating by gender, however, female-headed households benefited significantly more than male-headed households in Uganda.farmer field schools, agricultural productivity, adoption, extension services,

Senior Recital: Kristin Houston, mezzo-soprano

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Music in Performance. Ms. Houston studies jazz voice with Karla Harris.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2226/thumbnail.jp

An Exploratory Multiple Case Study of Discipline Practices in a Major Metropolitan Public School District: A Look into the School to Prison Pipeline

The school to prison pipeline is a phenomenon fed by exclusionary discipline practices that increase the likelihood that a student will have an interaction with the juvenile or criminal justice system at some time in their life; this phenomenon disproportionately affects Black students. Understanding the problem is key to slowing down the school to prison pipeline. This study of a school district in Missouri explores questions about how interpersonal relationships, implicit bias awareness, and school policies influence the learning environment, and how those factors relate to school discipline, which ultimately can lead to the school to prison pipeline. Drawing data from exploratory multiple case study interviews, numerous themes emerged. Relationships are important when making changes in schools. Staff were forced to develop plans to support students by building relationships, managing teaching expectations, and developing alternatives to suspension. The new policy positively affected law enforcement officers’ interactions with students. The study has important implications for school practitioners; namely policy change is an effective method to lessen school suspensions thus decreasing the school to prison pipeline. The implications for law enforcement officers working in schools is that they can also work to reduce the school to prison pipeline through improved relationships with students and families. They are an invaluable resource to students, families, and school staff to support students and to prevent them from entering the criminal justice system later in life

Inter-Rater and Intra-Rater Reliability of the Repetitive Step Test in Community Dwelling Older Adults

Each year one in every three adults over the age of 65 experience a fall resulting in serious injury and in some instances death. In this population, fall injuries are the leading cause of death and are associated with the greatest number of nonfatal injuries and trauma hospital admissions. Since balance and muscle performance decreases as one ages, it is vitally important to assess these factors as part of a comprehensive strategy to monitor and predict fall risk. The Repetitive Step Test (RST) has previously showed the ability in community dwelling older adults to differentiate recurrent fallers from non-fallers and to have excellent test-retest reliability.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/dpt_symposium/1036/thumbnail.jp

What Made Me the Teacher I Am Today? A Reflection by Selected Leonore Annenberg-Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows

The report offers a series of short essays from 18 teachers, each reflecting on what inspired and guided them into the teaching profession. Some of the highlights include:"I've come to realize that my learning process in the classroom actually feels a whole lot like the science I practiced at the bench: engineering experimental procedures, collecting and analyzing data, and formulating questions about next steps. It turns out that my scientific worldview can really improve learning outcomes for my students," said Kristin Milks, a biology and earth science teacher in Bloomington, IN, who enrolled in a teacher preparation program shortly after completing her Ph.D. in biochemistry."What transforms someone from being a good teacher to being a great teacher is the passion to make connections with students, to constantly evaluate and adjust their practice to do what is in the students' best interest," said Catherine Ann Haney, a Virginia Spanish teacher who has recently been teaching in Santiago, Chile."Enrolling in a teacher education program, instead of starting my career as a teacher first and then obtaining my master's degree after, meant I had a cohort of other soon-to-be teachers to learn with as we persevered through a very rigorous and demanding year," said Jeremy Cress, a math teacher in Philadelphia."I realized that being a good math teacher does not mean explaining clearly, making kids like me, or making math fun. Rather, it means giving students the opportunity to solve problems by themselves from start to finish, to struggle and persevere, and to learn from each other's particular strengths," said Brittany Leknes, a math teacher from Sunnyvale, CA."Together my students and I co-create their identities, their sense of themselves, and their understanding of their place in society. Because I believe wholly in my students' own power, I teach to disrupt school cultures that suggest that students need to be anything less than their whole selves," said Kayla Vinson, who taught social students in the Harlem Children's Zone.Created in 2007, the Leonore Annenberg-Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship was designed to serve as the equivalent of a national "Rhodes Scholarship" for teaching. Working with Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Virginia, and the University of Washington, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation provided $30,000 stipends for exceptionally able candidates to complete a yearlong master's degree program. In exchange, the teacher candidates agreed to teach for three years in high-need secondary schools across the country. The Leonore Annenberg Teaching Fellowship was funded through grants from the Annenberg Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York. It served as the basis for the Woodrow Wilson Foundation's successful Teaching Fellowship program, which now operates in five states (Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, and Ohio), operating in partnership with 28 universities. Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows complete a rigorous yearlong master's degree program, coupled with a robust yearlong clinical experience. Once they earn their degrees, Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows teach in high-need STEM classrooms, while receiving three years of coaching and mentoring

Exploring Perceived Importance of a Novel Emergency Food Program during COVID-19 and Program Recipient Characteristics

Following rising unemployment rates and consequent loss of income due to COVID-19, many people have been seeking meal assistance. This study examines the impact of a community-based free meal distribution program during the pandemic in Kentucky, reviewing characteristics of recipients of the program. Demographics, health behaviors, food insecure classification, and rating of importance of the meal program were collected. Qualitative feedback on the impact of the program was collected via open response. Of the 92 participants using the meal service, the cohort was female, Black, 43 years of age (43.5 ± 15.0 years), with a household income under 30,000 USD before COVID, decreased income since COVID, and were food insecure. Recipients rated the importance of the service as 8.7 ± 1.8 (of 10), and those with children indicated the importance as 4.2 ± 1.1 (of 5). Qualitative data on program importance highlighted four response categories including “changed habits”, “mental wellbeing”, “provided resources”, and “other”. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many individuals have struggled. Meal assistance programs are a fundamental asset in the community that have seen marketed demand since COVID-19. Collaboration with, and evaluation of, meal assistance programs can be valuable for continued programmatic funding support

Adaptation of a Community Health Advisor Intervention to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening Among African Americans in the Southern United States

Community health advisor (CHA) interventions increase colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates. Focus groups and learner verification were used to adapt National Cancer Institute CRC screening educational materials for delivery by a CHA to African American community health center patients. Such academic-community collaboration improves adoption of evidence-based interventions. This short article describes the adaptation of an evidence-based cancer education intervention for implementation in an African American community