Functional Literacy, Educational Attainment and Earnings - A Multi-Country Comparison

In this paper a rich and innovative dataset, the International Adult Literacy Survey, is used to examine the impact of functional literacy on earnings. We show that the estimated return to formal education is sensitive to the inclusion of literacy - excluding it biases the return to education in many countries by significant amounts. Literacy itself has a well-determined effect on earnings in all countries though with considerable variation in the size of the effect. The benefits of literacy do not only arise from increasing low levels of literacy: increases at already high levels generate substantial increases in earnings in some countries. In general we find little interaction between schooling and literacy though for a few countries they appear to complement each other.

Money, Mentoring and Making Friends : The Impact of a Multidimensional Access Program on Student Performance

There is a well established socioeconomic gradient in educational attainment, despite much effort in recent decades to address this inequality. This study evaluates a university access program that provides financial, academic and social support to low socioeconomic status (SES) students using a natural experiment which exploits the time variation in the expansion of the program across schools. The program has parallels with US affirmative actions programs, although preferential treatment is based on SES rather than ethnicity. Evaluating the effectiveness of programs targeting disadvantaged students in Ireland is particularly salient given the high rate of return to education and the lack of intergenerational mobility in educational attainment. Overall, we identify positive treatment effects on first year exam performance, progression to second year and final year graduation rates, with the impact often stronger for higher ability students. We find similar patterns of results for students that entered through the regular system and the ‘affirmative action’ group i.e. the students that entered with lower high school grades. The program affects the performance of both male and female students, albeit in different ways. This study suggests that access programs can be an effective means of improving academic outcomes for socio-economically disadvantaged students. JEL Codes: I21Education inequality ; Access programs ; Natural experiment ; Economics of education

Spausdinimo senosiomis spaudos staklėmis judėjimas

At the end of the twentieth century, increased access to certain technologies and processes, such as 3D scanning, computer-aided design, rapid fabrication and microcircuitry, enabled consumers to become creators of material design. These activities, which collectively came to be known as making, extended across both public and private sectors, including the study of the book. This paper offers an extended discourse on the full range of activities comprising the bibliographical maker movement, which in recent years has coalesced around the idea that maker culture may be employed to enhance our understanding of not only the history but also the future of the book. The application of these new technologies toward critical book studies has proceeded from the practice-based approach to research and instruction first begun under the auspices of the bibliographical press movement in the mid-twentieth century. In keeping with this earlier work, biblio-making is predicated upon the idea that certain kinds of knowledge are best gained through personal experience and experimentation. This article will first outline the benefits of applying 3D technologies to the goals of book history before locating and describing the activities of participating individuals and institutions within three broad categories: holistic, 3D digitisation; recovering historical tools and processes; and creative experiments in book design. As the article demonstrates, the strength and potential of the bibliographical maker movement lies in its widening community of practice and that, by virtue of its being an open-access network of constituents, it is now poised to make a significant and lasting contribution to the study of the book.XX a. pabaigoje padidėjusi prieiga prie tam tikrų technologijų ir procesų tokių kaip 3D skenavimas, kompiuterinis projektavimas, sparti gamyba bei mikroschemos leido vartotojams tapti medžiagų dizaino kūrėjais. Ši veikla, kuri apibendrintai pradėta vadinti „kūrimu“ (angl. making), apėmė viešąjį ir privatų sektorius, įskaitant knygų tyrimus. Šiame straipsnyje pateikiamas platus visos veiklos spektro diskursas, apimantis spausdinimo senosiomis spaudos staklėmis kūrėjų judėjimą, kuris pastaraisiais metais susiliejo su idėja, skelbiančia, kad kūrėjų kultūra gali būti pasitelkta siekiant pagerinti mūsų supratimą ne tik apie knygos istoriją, bet ir jos ateitį. Šių naujų technologijų taikymas kritiniams knygų tyrimams kilo iš praktika pagrįsto požiūrio į tyrimus, o mokymai pirmiausia buvo pradėti XX a. viduryje pasitelkiant spausdinimo senosiomis spaudos staklėmis judėjimą. Remiantis šiuo ankstesniu darbu, knygų kūrimas grindžiamas idėja, kad tam tikras žinias geriausia įgyti per asmeninę patirtį ir bandymus. Šiame straipsnyje pirmiausia apibūdinami 3D technologijų taikymo knygų istorijos tikslams pranašumai prieš nustatant ir aprašant dalyvaujančių asmenų ir institucijų trijų plačių kategorijų veiklą: holistinę, 3D skaitmeninimą; istorinių įrankių ir procesų atkūrimą; kūrybinius knygų dizaino eksperimentus. Kaip rodo straipsnis, bibliografijos kūrėjų judėjimo stiprybė ir potencialas slypi besiplečiančioje aktyvioje bendruomenėje, o kadangi tai yra atvirosios prieigos elementų tinklas, tai dabar ji pasirengusi įnešti reikšmingą ir ilgalaikį indėlį į knygų tyrimą

New diagnostic criteria for metopic ridges and trigonocephaly:a 3D geometric approach

Background: Trigonocephaly occurs due to the premature fusion of the metopic suture, leading to a triangular forehead and hypotelorism. This condition often requires surgical correction for morphological and functional indications. Metopic ridges also originate from premature metopic closure but are only associated with mid-frontal bulging; their surgical correction is rarely required. Differential diagnosis between these two conditions can be challenging, especially in minor trigonocephaly. Methods: Two hundred seven scans of patients with trigonocephaly (90), metopic rigdes (27), and controls (90) were collected. Geometric morphometrics were used to quantify skull and orbital morphology as well as the interfrontal angle and the cephalic index. An innovative method was developed to automatically compute the frontal curvature along the metopic suture. Different machine-learning algorithms were tested to assess the predictive power of morphological data in terms of classification. Results: We showed that control patients, trigonocephaly and metopic rigdes have distinctive skull and orbital shapes. The 3D frontal curvature enabled a clear discrimination between groups (sensitivity and specificity &gt; 92%). Furthermore, we reached an accuracy of 100% in group discrimination when combining 6 univariate measures. Conclusion: Two diagnostic tools were proposed and demonstrated to be successful in assisting differential diagnosis for patients with trigonocephaly or metopic ridges. Further clinical assessments are required to validate the practical clinical relevance of these tools.</p

New diagnostic criteria for metopic ridges and trigonocephaly:a 3D geometric approach

Background: Trigonocephaly occurs due to the premature fusion of the metopic suture, leading to a triangular forehead and hypotelorism. This condition often requires surgical correction for morphological and functional indications. Metopic ridges also originate from premature metopic closure but are only associated with mid-frontal bulging; their surgical correction is rarely required. Differential diagnosis between these two conditions can be challenging, especially in minor trigonocephaly. Methods: Two hundred seven scans of patients with trigonocephaly (90), metopic rigdes (27), and controls (90) were collected. Geometric morphometrics were used to quantify skull and orbital morphology as well as the interfrontal angle and the cephalic index. An innovative method was developed to automatically compute the frontal curvature along the metopic suture. Different machine-learning algorithms were tested to assess the predictive power of morphological data in terms of classification. Results: We showed that control patients, trigonocephaly and metopic rigdes have distinctive skull and orbital shapes. The 3D frontal curvature enabled a clear discrimination between groups (sensitivity and specificity &gt; 92%). Furthermore, we reached an accuracy of 100% in group discrimination when combining 6 univariate measures. Conclusion: Two diagnostic tools were proposed and demonstrated to be successful in assisting differential diagnosis for patients with trigonocephaly or metopic ridges. Further clinical assessments are required to validate the practical clinical relevance of these tools.</p

Prostate cancer treated with brachytherapy; an exploratory study of dose-dependent biomarkers and quality of life

BACKGROUND: Low-dose-rate permanent prostate brachytherapy (PPB) is an attractive treatment option for patients with localised prostate cancer with excellent outcomes. As standard CT-based post-implant dosimetry often correlates poorly with late treatment-related toxicity, this exploratory (proof of concept) study was conducted to investigate correlations between radiation − induced DNA damage biomarker levels, and acute and late bowel, urinary, and sexual toxicity. METHODS: Twelve patients treated with (125)I PPB monotherapy (145Gy) for prostate cancer were included in this prospective study. Post-implant CT based dosimetry assessed the minimum dose encompassing 90% (D(90%)) of the whole prostate volume (global), sub-regions of the prostate (12 sectors) and the near maximum doses (D(0.1cc), D(2cc)) for the rectum and bladder. Six blood samples were collected from each patient; pre-treatment, 1 h (h), 4 h, 24 h post-implant, at 4 weeks (w) and at 3 months (m). DNA double strand breaks were investigated by staining the blood samples with immunofluorescence antibodies to γH2AX and 53BP1 proteins (γH2AX/53BP1). Patient self-scored quality of life from the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC) were obtained at baseline, 1 m, 3 m, 6 m, 9 m, 1 year (y), 2y and 3y post-treatment. Spearman’s correlation coefficients were used to evaluate correlations between temporal changes in γH2AX/53BP1, dose and toxicity. RESULTS: The minimum follow up was 2 years. Population mean prostate D(90%) was 144.6 ± 12.1 Gy and rectal near maximum dose D(0.1cc) = 153.0 ± 30.8 Gy and D(2cc) = 62.7 ± 12.1 Gy and for the bladder D(0.1cc) = 123.1 ± 27.0 Gy and D(2cc) = 70.9 ± 11.9 Gy. Changes in EPIC scores from baseline showed high positive correlation between acute toxicity and late toxicity for both urinary and bowel symptoms. Increased production of γH2AX/53BP1 at 24 h relative to baseline positively correlated with late bowel symptoms. Overall, no correlations were observed between dose metrics (prostate global or sector doses) and γH2AX/53BP1 foci counts. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that a prompt increase in γH2AX/53BP1foci at 24 h post-implant relative to baseline may be a useful measure to assess elevated risk of late RT − related toxicities for PPB patients. A subsequent investigation recruiting a larger cohort of patients is warranted to verify our findings. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13014-017-0792-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Biofortification of Chicken Eggs with Vitamin K—Nutritional and Quality Improvements

peer reviewedNational nutrition surveys have shown that over half of all adults in Ireland, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States of America (USA) have low vitamin K intakes. Thus, dietary strategies to improve vitamin K intakes are needed, and vitamin K biofortification of food may be one food-based approach. The primary aim of our study was to establish whether increasing the vitamin K3 content of hen feed can increase the vitamin K content of eggs, and the secondary aims were to examine the effects on hen performance parameters, as well as egg and eggshell quality parameters. A 12 week hen feeding trial was conducted in which Hyline chickens were randomized into four treatment groups (n = 32/group) and fed diets containing vitamin K3 (as menadione nicotinamide bisulfite) at 3 (control), 12.9, 23.7, and 45.7 mg/kg feed. Vitamin K1, menaquinone (MK)-4, MK-7, and MK-9 were measured in raw whole eggs via a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method. MK-4 was the most abundant form of vitamin K (91–98%) found in all eggs. Increasing the vitamin K3 content of hen feed over the control level significantly (p < 0.001) enhanced the MK-4 content of eggs (mean range: 46–51 µg/100 g, representing ~42–56% of US Adequate Intake values). Vitamin K biofortification also led to significant (p < 0.05) increases in the yellowness of egg yolk and in eggshell weight and thickness, but no other changes in egg quality or hen performance parameters. In conclusion, high-quality vitamin K-biofortified eggs can be produced with at least double the total vitamin K content compared to that in commercially available eggs

Influence of packing density and stress on the dynamic response of granular materials

Laboratory geophysics tests including bender elements and acoustic emission measure the speed of propagation of stress or sound waves in granular materials to derive elastic stiffness parameters. This contribution builds on earlier studies to assess whether the received signal characteristics can provide additional information about either the material’s behaviour or the nature of the material itself. Specifically it considers the maximum frequency that the material can transmit; it also assesses whether there is a simple link between the spectrum of the received signal and the natural frequencies of the sample. Discrete element method (DEM) simulations of planar compression wave propagation were performed to generate the data for the study. Restricting consideration to uniform (monodisperse) spheres, the material fabric was varied by considering face-centred cubic lattice packings as well as random configurations with different packing densities. Supplemental analyses, in addition to the DEM simulations, were used to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the system dynamics. The assembly stiffness and mass matrices were extracted from the DEM model and these data were used in an eigenmode analysis that provided significant insight into the observed overall dynamic response. The close agreement of the wave velocities estimated using eigenmode analysis with the DEM results confirms that DEM wave propagation simulations can reliably be used to extract material stiffness data. The data show that increasing either stress or density allows higher frequencies to propagate through the media, but the low-pass wavelength is a function of packing density rather than stress level. Prior research which had hypothesised that there is a simple link between the spectrum of the received signal and the natural sample frequencies was not substantiated

A pilot of the feasibility and usefulness of an aged obese model for use in stroke research

Background: Animal models of stroke have been criticised as having poor predictive validity, lacking risk factors prevalent in an aging population. This pilot study examined the development of comorbidities in a combined aged and high-fat diet model, and then examined the feasibility of modelling stroke in such rats. Methods: Twelve-month old male Wistar-Han rats (n=15) were fed a 60% fat diet for 8 months during which monthly serial blood samples were taken to assess the development of metabolic syndrome and pro-inflammatory markers. Following this, to pilot the suitability of these rats for undergoing surgical models of stroke, they underwent 30min of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) alongside younger controls fed a standard diet (n=10). Survival, weight and functional outcome were monitored, and blood vessels and tissues collected for analysis. Results: A high fat diet in aged rats led to substantial obesity. These rats did not develop type 2 diabetes or hypertension. There was thickening of the thoracic arterial wall and vacuole formation in the liver; but of the cytokines examined changes were not seen. MCAO surgery and behavioural assessment was possible in this model (with some caveats discussed in manuscript). Conclusions: This study shows MCAO is possible in aged, obese rats. However, this model is not ideal for recapitulating the complex comorbidities commonly seen in stroke patients