Cultural Components of Technology and its Implications for Adult Education

This article seeks to describe technology and how its design and use embodies values embedded in the dominant culture and is meant to support the hegemonic goals of the dominant culture while suppressing the growth and development of marginalized groups and propose a means of researching between technology and adult learners

Cultural Components of Technology and Its Implications for Adult Education

This article seeks to describe technology and how its design and use embodies values embedded in the dominant culture and is meant to support the hegemonic goals of the dominant culture while suppressing the growth and development of marginalized groups and propose a means of researching between technology and adult learners

Profiles Of Internet Use In Adult Literacy And Basic Education Classrooms

This study sought to create profiles of adult literacy and basic education (ALBE) instructors and their use of the Internet in their classrooms. Rogers’ theory of Diffusion of Innovations (2003) provided the theoretical framework for this study. A set of 50 surveys was mailed out to each of the fifty states. Twenty-four states distributed 1200 surveys and returned 219 surveys for a response rate of 18.25%. Of the respondents, 81% indicated they had computers available, 32.0% indicated they used e-mail with their class, and 67.3% indicated they used the Internet. Five scales were developed and used to construct profiles of ALBE instructors. Two profiles were developed that mirrored each other. The first profile showed instructors liked the Internet, used it often, found positive consequences, were neutral on negative consequences and did not find many barriers to using it. The second profile did not like the Internet, did not use it much, found few positive consequences, were neutral on negative consequences, and found many barriers to using it. Significant differences were found between the two groups based on average number of computers, use of e-mail in the classroom, average number of days using the Internet, average number of students served

Motivations, Consequences, and Barriers to Using the Internet in Adult Literacy and Basic Education Classroom

This study sought to create profiles of adult literacy and basic education (ALBE) instructors and use of the Internet in their classrooms. Two profiles were found and significant group differences were seen based on factors related to use of computers in the classroom, e-mail, and number of students served

UA58/5 Monthly Newsletter

Electronic newsletter created by the WKU Graduate School. This issue highlights personnel changes, graduate assistantships, GRE scores, GAP scores, admissions letters, Association for Graduate Students and graduate student research

Life on the Fringe: Muskoxen in the Alaskan Arctic

The Arctic is experiencing some of the most dramatic temperature changes on the planet. Species at the edge of their range often confront conditions that differ from those in the center–to the extent that the persistence of peripheral populations might be more challenged if bioclimatic factors rule. An indisputable Arctic-adapted species are muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) which occur at their historic southwestern terminus in Arctic Alaska. We instigated a multi-year project to assess sources of variation in demography, attendant life-histories, and vital rates by contrasting populations on National Park Service and adjacent lands at Bering Land Bridge and Cape Krusenstern. A major challenge of Arctic work is expense; in lieu of handling large numbers of animals, we present a simple non-invasive method to predict body mass in young and sub-adults. We used photogrammetry to document head sizes at known distances and angles on more than 300 wild muskoxen from four age cohorts( 1 to 3 yrs, and older). With head size parameters calibrated on captive individuals, 85 percent of the variance in body mass was explained for animals < 4 yrs of age. Accuracy diminished at > 65 meters and as animals reached puberty, the latter because nutrients allocated for skeletal growth are re-directed to meet reproductive demands. We believe that our ability to associate changes in mass/yr with abiotic and biological factors and survival will enhance opportunities to test hypotheses about causes and correlates of variation in population persistence

Strength and conditioning practices in rowing

There is limited published research on the practices of strength and conditioning (S &C) coaches in Great Britain. Information about training program design would be useful in developing models of good practice and ecologically valid intervention studies. The aim of this research was to quantify the training practices of coaches responsible for the S&C of rowing athletes. A questionnaire was developed that consisted of 6 sections: (a) personal details, (b) physical testing, (c) strength and power development, (d) flexibility development, (e) unique aspects of the program, and (f) any further relevant comments regarding the athletes prescribed training program. Twenty-two rowing and 10 S&C coaches with an average of 10.5 ± 7.2 years' experience agreed to complete the questionnaire. Approximately, 34% coached rowers of Olympic standard, 34% coached national standard, 3% coached regional standard, 19% coached club standard, and 10% coached university standard rowers. All coaches agreed that strength training enhanced rowing performance and the majority (74%) indicated that athletes' strength trained 2-3 times a week. Almost all coaches (94%) reported their rowers performed strength training, with 81% using Olympic lifting, and 91% employing a periodized training model. The clean (63%) and squat (27%) were rated the most important prescribed exercises. Approximately 50% of coaches used plyometrics such as depth jumps, box drills, and standing jumps. Ninety-four percent indicated they conducted physical testing on their rowers, typically assessing cardiovascular endurance (80%), muscular power (70%), muscular strength (70%), and anaerobic capacity (57%). This research represents the only published survey to date on the S&C practices in rowing within Great Britain

Revision rates after primary hip and knee replacement in England between 2003 and 2006

<b>Background</b>: Hip and knee replacement are some of the most frequently performed surgical procedures in the world. Resurfacing of the hip and unicondylar knee replacement are increasingly being used. There is relatively little evidence on their performance. To study performance of joint replacement in England, we investigated revision rates in the first 3 y after hip or knee replacement according to prosthesis type. <b>Methods and Findings</b>: We linked records of the National Joint Registry for England and Wales and the Hospital Episode Statistics for patients with a primary hip or knee replacement in the National Health Service in England between April 2003 and September 2006. Hospital Episode Statistics records of succeeding admissions were used to identify revisions for any reason. 76,576 patients with a primary hip replacement and 80,697 with a primary knee replacement were included (51% of all primary hip and knee replacements done in the English National Health Service). In hip patients, 3-y revision rates were 0.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.8%–1.1%) with cemented, 2.0% (1.7%–2.3%) with cementless, 1.5% (1.1%–2.0% CI) with “hybrid” prostheses, and 2.6% (2.1%–3.1%) with hip resurfacing (p < 0.0001). Revision rates after hip resurfacing were increased especially in women. In knee patients, 3-y revision rates were 1.4% (1.2%–1.5% CI) with cemented, 1.5% (1.1%–2.1% CI) with cementless, and 2.8% (1.8%–4.5% CI) with unicondylar prostheses (p < 0.0001). Revision rates after knee replacement strongly decreased with age. <b>Interpretation</b>: Overall, about one in 75 patients needed a revision of their prosthesis within 3 y. On the basis of our data, consideration should be given to using hip resurfacing only in male patients and unicondylar knee replacement only in elderly patients

Hospital length of stay, do not resuscitate orders, and survival for post-cardiac arrest patients in Michigan: A study for the CARES Surveillance Group

OBJECTIVE: Current guidelines recommend deferring prognostic decisions for at least 72 h following admission after Out of Hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Most non-survivors experience withdrawal of life sustaining therapy (WLST), and early WLST may adversely impact survival. We sought to characterize the hospital length of stay (LOS) and timing of Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders (as surrogates for WLST), to assess their relationship to survival following cardiac arrest. DESIGN: We performed a retrospective cohort study of probabilistically linked cardiac arrest registries (Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) and Michigan Inpatient Database (MIDB) from 2014 to 2017. PATIENTS: Adult (≥18 years) patients admitted following OHCA were included. We considered LOS ≤ 3 days (short LOS) and written DNR order with LOS ≤ 3 days (Early DNR) as indicators of early WLST. Our primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge. We utilized multilevel logistic regression clustered by hospital to examine associations of these variables, patient characteristics and survival to hospital discharge. MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULTS: We included 3644 patients from 38 hospitals with \u3e30 patients. Patients mean age was 62.4 years and were predominately male (59.3%). LOS ≤ 3 days (OR(adj) = 0.11) and early DNR (OR(adj) = 0.02) were inversely associated with survival to discharge. There was a non-significant inverse association between hospital rates of LOS ≤ 3 days and survival (p = 0.11), and Early DNR and survival (p = 0.83). In the multilevel model, using median odd ratios to assess variation in LOS ≤ 3 days and survival, patient characteristics contributed more to variability in survival than between-hospital variation. However, between-hospital variation contributed more to variability than patient characteristics in the provision of early DNR orders. CONCLUSIONS: We observed that LOS ≤ 3 days for post-arrest patients was negatively-associated with survival, with both patient characteristics and between-hospital variation associated with outcomes. However, between-hospital variation appears to be more highly-associated with provision of early DNR orders than patient characteristics. Further work is needed to assess variation in early DNR orders and their impact on patient survival