Identifying the determinants of chronic absenteeism: A bioecological systems approach

Background/Context: Chronic school absenteeism is a pervasive problem across the US; in early education, it is most rampant in kindergarten and its consequences are particularly detrimental, often leading to poorer academic, behavioral and developmental outcomes later in life. Though prior empirical research has identified a broad range of determinants of chronic absenteeism, there lacks a single, unified theoretically driven investigation examining how such factors concurrently explain the incidence of chronic absenteeism among our nation 's youngest schoolchildren. Thus, it is difficult to determine the relative importance of one factor over another, hence making it challenging to develop appropriate supports and services to reduce school absences. Purpose/Research Questions: Our study filled this critical void-we investigated multiple determinants of chronic absenteeism that were grounded, theoretically and empirically, in Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model of development. Specifically, using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 and the method of hierarchical generalized linear modeling, we analyzed how the co-occurrence of key (a) process, (b) person, and (c) context (micro-, meso-, exo- and macrosystem) factors was associated with kindergarteners' probability of being chronically absent. Findings/Results: Children who have poorer health, higher internalizing behaviors, and more frequent engagement in learning activities at home had higher odds of chronic absenteeism. Also, children from larger families and of lower socioeconomic status faced increased odds of chronic absenteeism. Conversely, children holding positive attitudes towards school had lowered odds of chronic absenteeism, a finding that remained robust across socioeconomic status groups. Finally, parent-school connections were associated with lowered odds of absenteeism. Conclusions/Recommendations: Overall, our findings strongly suggested that addressing chronic absenteeism will require comprehensive and multifaceted approaches that recognize these multiple factors. With this theoretically grounded, more descriptive approach, it is more feasible to identify key factors and subsequently design policies and practices to prevent absence behavior

Evaluation of commercial GaN HEMTs for pulsed power applications

A non-conformally invariant coupling between the inflaton and the photon in the minimal Lorentz-violating standard model extension is analyzed. For specific forms of the Lorentz-violating background tensor, the strong-coupling and back-reaction problems of magnetogenesis in de Sitter inflation with scale $${\sim }10^{16}\,\hbox {GeV}$$ are evaded, the electromagnetic-induced primordial spectra of (Gaussian and non-Gaussian) scalar and tensor curvature perturbations are compatible with cosmic microwave background observations, and the inflation-produced magnetic field directly accounts for cosmic magnetic fields

Reproducibility of the bronchoconstrictive response to eucapnic voluntary hyperpnoea

Background: Eucapnic voluntary hyperpnoea (EVH) is considered an effective bronchoprovocation challenge for identifying exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB). However, the reproducibility of the hyperpnoea-induced bronchoconstriction (HIB) response elicited by EVH remains unknown and was therefore the focus of this study. Methods: Two cohorts of 16 physically active males (each cohort comprised 8 controls and 8 with physician diagnosis of asthma) participated in two studies of the short- and long-term reproducibility of the bronchoconstrictive response to an EVH test with dry air. EVH was performed on days 0, 7, 14, and 21 (short-term study), and 0, 35, and 70 (long-term study). HIB was diagnosed by a ≥10% fall in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) after EVH. Results: On day 0 of the short-term study, FEV1 fell by 2 ± 1% (P < 0.05) and 27 ± 18% (P < 0.01) from pre-to post-EVH in control and HIB-positive groups respectively. The post-EVH fall in FEV1 did not differ across the short-term study test days. In the HIB-positive group, the day-to-day coefficient of variation, reproducibility, and smallest meaningful change for the fall in FEV1 were 12%, 328 mL, and 164 mL, respectively. On day 0 of the long-term study, FEV1 fell by 2 ± 2% and 25 ± 18% (P < 0.01) after EVH in control and HIB-positive groups respectively. The post-EVH fall in FEV1 did not differ across the long-term study test days. In the HIB-positive group, the day-to-day coefficient of variation, reproducibility, and smallest meaningful change for the fall in FEV1 were 10%, 196 mL, and 98 mL respectively. Conclusion: The EVH test elicits a reproducible bronchoconstrictive response in physically active males with physician diagnosed asthma. These data thus support the clinical utility of the EVH test for EIB screening and monitoring

8 weeks in commercial radio : talk radio programme in 2015

published_or_final_versionMedia, Culture and Creative CitiesMasterMaster of Social Sciences in Media, Culture and Creative Citie