The Homeownership Gap in America: Do Minorities Still Face Discrimination?

Despite increases in homeownership and efforts to abolish the American homeownership gap in the late twentieth century, there is little evidence that the gap has decreased. I study the homeownership levels for five minority races and compare them to the homeownership levels of white Americans to determine whether discrimination is still the cause of this gap. To do this, I first pool five years of recent data from the IPUMS USA: ACS 2015-2019 database. I then employ the empirical model that uses two regression equations. One controls for human capital and other socioeconomic variables to determine the raw effect of race on homeownership, while the other does not control for these other variables and only includes the race variables in the equation. The difference in the coefficients of the race variable in the two equations show the explained effect of race on homeownership due to differences in the human capital control variables and to what degree for each minority. In line with common knowledge, the results show that racial differences in human capital account for some of the differences in homeownership levels. However, the coefficients show that even after controlling for other variables, there is a gap between white Americans owning homes versus the minorities. Therefore, the results suggest that minorities experience discrimination in housing markets

Aromatherapy as an Intervention to Manage Chronic Pain in a Long-Term Care Facility: A Quality Improvement Study

Managing pain effectively is a widespread issue in healthcare, particularly in the elderly population. Good Shepherd Lutheran Community in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota reports high levels of chronic pain in their long-term care patients when compared to the nationwide average. This could be due to an inaccurate pain scale, inappropriate medication management, or the lack of non-pharmacological intervention. Students from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University investigated this issue. Current nonpharmacological strategies in the facility include heat or cold application, mindfulness, and range of motion exercises. Pain medication, particularly opioids are used to maximize comfort. A review of the literature suggests that the daily application of lavender oil to the inner wrists of residents has been effective in providing pain relief and distraction along with relaxation. Given time constraints, the plan included application for ten consecutive days by the unit’s nurse manager. The sample for this quality improvement study includes those residents that exemplified extreme pain on the MDS, a comprehensive assessment completed to determine eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. Of those ten residents triggering for pain in November of 2019, five were removed due to death since assessment or a diagnosis of dementia, making them unable to provide informed consent. The implementation plan included assessing these residents\u27 pain using a number-based scale prior to the first application, and again after the last. Implementation was halted due to the restriction of student’s in the facility as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Anticipated results were a reduction in pain following the application of lavender; thus improved pain scores for the organization

Understanding the current climate of academic plagiarism

Academic plagiarism is undoubtedly an issue for undergraduate students, staff and faculty members, and tutors at Oklahoma State University. In the field of writing studies, many scholars note that plagiarism is an elusive subject that many have trouble identifying and defining and that there are gaps in what we know on the subject. This project aims to fill those gaps by recognizing what three groups - students, staff/faculty, and tutors - identify as academic plagiarism, where discrepancies between the groups lie, and what can potentially be done at Oklahoma State University to mediate these issues. This project utilizes a survey consisting of Likert scale, short response, and identification questions. Likert scale questions included levels of confidence on four citation styles - MLA, APA 7, AP, and Chicago - and likelihood of plagiarism in certain situations, which corresponded to type of relationship with another individual. Short response questions asked about influences and motivations to plagiarize and resources to avoid plagiarism. Finally, identification questions utilized seven situations in which respondents had to determine if plagiarism occurred. Results showed a discrepancy in each group and between the groups on three situations: missing citation, completing edits on another's paper, and so-called 'self-plagiarism.' Results also show disagreement between what resources students say better demotivate them from plagiarizing and what resources staff say better helps students. The project's results show that a consistent understanding of plagiarism is needed at the university. This could occur through trainings, conversations, or even teachings in classes where writing assignments are a significant portion of the grade. The results also show that a clearer understanding is needed on what is going on in classrooms to determine next steps

Children living in poverty

Although many books and articles have been written regarding poverty and its effects among children, there is an increasing need for school counselors to provide programs and support to empower children of poverty. Research indicates that poverty is increasing among Americans (Payne, 2003). Nutrition and health are a major concern among families of poverty, and approximately thirteen million children experience hunger on a daily basis (Prince & Howard, 2002). Children who have not met their basic needs come to school with a different agenda: survival. Although health is itself an outcome, it can also be viewed as a pathway by which poverty influences other child development such as cognitive ability and school achievement (Abernathy, Webster, & Vermeulen, 2002). With the cooperation and collaboration with parents and teachers, school counselors can begin to make a difference by providing support, psycho-educational consultation, and programs to help empower children of poverty

Texture is encoded in precise temporal spiking patterns in primate somatosensory cortex

Humans are exquisitely sensitive to the microstructure and material properties of surfaces. In the peripheral nerves, texture information is conveyed via two mechanisms: coarse textural features are encoded in spatial patterns of activation that reflect their spatial layout, and fine features are encoded in highly repeatable, texture-specific temporal spiking patterns evoked as the skin moves across the surface. Here, we examined whether this temporal code is preserved in the responses of neurons in somatosensory cortex. We scanned a diverse set of everyday textures across the fingertip of awake macaques while recording the responses evoked in individual cortical neurons. We found that temporal spiking patterns are highly repeatable across multiple presentations of the same texture, with millisecond precision. As a result, texture identity can be reliably decoded from the temporal patterns themselves, even after information carried in the spike rates is eliminated. However, the combination of rate and timing is more informative than either code in isolation. The temporal precision of the texture response is heterogenous across cortical neurons and depends on the submodality composition of their input and on their location along the somatosensory neuraxis. Furthermore, temporal spiking patterns in cortex dilate and contract with decreases and increases in scanning speed, respectively, and this systematic relationship between speed and patterning may contribute to the observed perceptual invariance to speed. Finally, we find that the quality of a texture percept can be better predicted when these temporal patterns are taken into consideration. We conclude that high-precision spike timing complements rate-based signals to encode texture in somatosensory cortex

Effectiveness of exercise interventions for adults over 65 with moderate-to-severe dementia in community settings: a systematic review

PurposeTo conduct a systematic review of the literature to evaluate the effectiveness of exercise interventions for people with moderate-to-severe dementia in community settings.MethodsEight electronic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, AMED, PsycINFO, PEDro, The Cochrane Library and BNI) were searched from inception to July 2018. Snowball searching identified additional articles not identified initially. Articles were included if they: reported randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials comparing exercise with usual care or no treatment; and involved people over 65 with moderate-to-severe dementia in community settings. Outcome measures of interest were strength, endurance, mobility, mood and quality of life. Titles and abstracts of all studies were screened by one reviewer. Two reviewers independently screened full text articles for all eligible studies, extracted data and assessed quality and risk of bias.ResultsEight studies with 819 participants were included. Interventions were variable in terms of content, duration and frequency. There was some evidence exercise programmes may improve physical function of people with moderate-to-severe dementia, with significant effects seen for gait speed and endurance, and a trend towards improvement in strength. There was little evidence to suggest exercise programmes improve mood. Most studies were of low quality.ConclusionExercise was associated with improvements in gait speed and endurance for older people with moderate-to-severe dementia living in the community, but the quality of evidence was low. There was no conclusive evidence regarding effect on strength or mood. Findings are limited by the quality of the available evidence

What New Faculty Need to Know, But Don\u27t Know to Ask

A smooth transition to life at an academic institution and the surrounding community is essential to the professional careers of new faculty members. The transition begins during the hiring process and startup package negotiations. Once at an institution, aspects of academia including teaching, proposal writing, and the tenure process inevitably generate issues and concerns for new faculty members. Research has shown that mentoring new faculty members early in their academic career can have significant impact on professional success. This is especially true at a research-based institution where the demands of funded scholarship add an extra level of complexity. A survey was conducted of faculty members at Missouri University of Science & Technology (Missouri S&T) in their first three years of a tenure track appointment to determine areas of concern for new faculty members. This paper presents the survey results, discusses the issues raised by the survey, and makes recommendations for effective mentoring relationships. Specific questions for new faculty members discussed in this paper include: What to look for in a mentor? What to consider in selecting where to submit papers? When to say yes and when to say no to service? Where to begin the hunt for research funding? What are quality resources for teaching? The paper also provides insight to mentors relative to junior faculty members\u27 concerns. This paper evaluates issues that are critical to forming effective mentoring relationships. Guidance offered provides value to mentors in understanding which areas are of greatest concern to new faculty. It provides information to proteges as well in determining key characteristics of an effective mentor