Performance Funding of State Public Higher Education;Has It Delivered the Desired External Accountability and Institutional Improvement?

In today\u27s economic climate, state public institutions of higher education face challenges on multiple fronts. This applies particularly to state funding as it relates to the financing of the mission of the institutions. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the effectiveness of allocating state resources to state public institutions of higher education by comparing results from performance funding states to non-performance funding states. The focus was to determine whether the change to the performance funding methodology delivered the desired external accountability and institutional improvement in state public higher education. The research question guiding this study was: To what extent does the method of funding state public higher education, either performance or non-performance funding, predict the improvement in key higher education performance funding indicators between the years 2002 through 2009? Data collection and analysis investigated the rate of change in key higher education performance funding indicators at state public institutions of higher education in five performance funding states (Tennessee, Florida, Ohio, Connecticut, and South Carolina) in comparison to five states that do not employ performance funding (Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, Massachusetts, and Maryland). The general hypothesis tested was: State public institutions of higher education in states that employ a performance funding methodology will experience a statistically significant increase in performance funding indicators that is greater than in states that employ a non-performance funding methodology. Data were analyzed using the Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) with a focus on individual change over time. The findings revealed that method of funding was not a statistically significant predictor of either the initial status or the rate of change of graduation rate or retention rate over the eight-year period, although institution type and enrollment were. The study recommends further research of performance fun

Understanding primary carers' occupational adaption and engagement

Background/aim: Primary carers for people with intellectual disability living in remote rural areas experience high demand care commitments that may require them to be available twenty-four hours seven days a week and reduce their access to formal or respite support leaving them little time to engage in other occupations. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of caring for a person with an intellectual disability living in remote rural farming location on primary carers' occupational engagement. Method: A thematic analysis, using an interpretive phenomenological analysis approach, was conducted on seven in-depth semi-structured interviews of primary carers. Results: Occupational adaptation and engagement, emerging as a primary theme, indicated that primary carers' occupations were affected by: limiting opportunity to develop occupations; developing new occupations; adapting occupations; and ceasing occupations. A number of influencing themes, affecting the primary carers' occupational engagement also emerged, including: lifestyle and occupational roles; wellness and health; engaging quality supports; societal and community context; and vision for the future. Conclusion: The results provided an initial understanding of the impact of caring on the primary carers' occupational adaptation and engagement, and a suggestion that clinicians consider using a family-centred approach as an effective and meaningful intervention

Exploring the concerns of persons with disabilities in Western Zambia

Background: Understandings of disability are rooted in contexts. Despite the world’s significant contextual diversity, postcolonial power dynamics allow influential actors from the global North to imagine that most people across the global South understand disability in one generalised way. When it informs programmes and services for persons with disabilities in the global South, this imagining of a single generalised view could reduce effectiveness while further marginalising the people for whom the programmes and services were designed.Objectives: In the interest of better understanding a contextually grounded meaning of disability, we explored the expressed concerns of two organisations of persons with disabilities and their members in Western Zambia.Method: In this qualitative constructionist study, data collection focused upon life with a disability and services available to persons with disabilities. Data were collected through 39 individual interviews and eight focus group discussions with 81 members of organisations of persons with disabilities. Data were analysed thematically.Results: The participants’ main expressed concern was poverty. This concern was articulated in terms of a life of suffering and a need for material resources. Participants linked poverty to disability in two ways. Some participants identified how impairments limited resource acquisition, resulting in suffering. Others considered poverty to be an integral part of the experience of disability.Conclusion: This study contributes to literature on disability theory by providing a contextually grounded account of a particular understanding of disability and poverty. The study also contributes to disability practice and policymaking through the demonstration of poverty as the main concern of persons with disabilities in this context.</jats:p

The influence of cadmium stress on the content of mineral nutrients and metal-binding proteins in arabidopsis halleri

We investigated the influence of cadmium stress on zinc hyperaccumulation, mineral nutrient uptake, and the content of metal-binding proteins in Arabidopsis halleri. The experiments were carried out using plants subjected to long-term cadmium exposure (40 days) in the concentrations of 45 and 225 μM Cd2+. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, size exclusion chromatography coupled with plasma-mass spectrometry, and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry used for ablation of polyacylamide gels were employed to assess the content of investigated elements in plants as well as to identify metal-binding proteins. We found that A. halleri is able to translocate cadmium to the aerial parts in high amounts (translocation index >1). We showed that Zn content in plants decreased significantly with the increase of cadmium content in the growth medium. Different positive and negative correlations between Cd content and mineral nutrients were evidenced by our study. We identified more than ten low-molecular-weight (<100 kDa) Cd-binding proteins in Cd-treated plants. These proteins are unlikely to be phytochelatins or metallothioneins. We hypothesize that low-molecular-weight Cd-binding proteins can be involved in cadmium resistance in A. halleri

Selenium uptake by edible plants from enriched peat.

As a constituent of selenoproteins, selenium (Se) is considered an essential element for human health.The main way that Se enters the body is via the consumption of vegetables, whose concentration of thiselement depends on soil Se content. We grew cabbage, lettuce, chard and parsley, in peat enriched in Seby means of the additive Selcote Ultra®and Na2SeO3and Na2SeO4. Total Se in plants was determinedby acidic digestion and Se speciation by an enzymatic extraction. Both were measured by ICP/MS. Theconcentration ranges were between 0.1 mg Se kg−1and 30 mg Se kg−1for plants grown in Selcote Ultra®media, and between 0.4 mg Se kg−1and 1606 mg Se kg−1for those grown in peat enriched with Se sodiumsalts. We found Se (IV), Se (VI) and SeMet in all the extracts. Peat fortified with Selcote Ultra®gave slightlyhigher Se concentration than natural content values. For plants grown with selenium sodium salts, Secontent increases with the Se added and part of the inorganic Se was converted mainly to SeMet. A highSe fortification can damage or inhibit plant growth. Cabbage showed the greatest tolerance to Se

Effects of Various Doses of Selenite on Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica L.)

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of selenium (Se) on the growth, accumulation and possible mechanisms of Se transport in certain parts (roots, leaves, stamp and apex) of nettle (Urtica dioica L.) plants. Se was supplemented by one-shot and two repeated doses to the soil (2.0 and 4.0 mg Se per kg of substrate). Selenium content in roots increased linearly with dose and was significantly higher compared to other plant parts of interest. However, growth of the above-ground parts of plant as well as roots was slightly inhibited with increasing selenium concentration in comparison to the untreated plants. The content of phytochelatin2, a low molecular mass peptide containing a sulfhydryl group, correlated well with the Se content. This suggests a possible stimulation of synthesis of this plant peptide by Se

A systematic review of high quality randomized controlled trials investigating motor skill programmes for children with developmental coordination disorder.

To identify effective motor training interventions for children with developmental coordination disorder from research graded as high quality (using objective criteria) for the purpose of informing evidence-based clinical practice.We followed the guidance for conducting systematic reviews issued by the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination. Six OvidSP electronic databases (AMED, All EBM reviews (including Cochrane), Embase, Ovid MEDLINE, PsychARTICLES Full Text, PsycINFO) were searched systematically. We aimed to retain only randomized control trials and systematic reviews of randomized control trials, defined as the highest level of evidence by the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. We searched reference lists of retained articles to identify further appropriate articles.Two reviewers critically appraised and categorized articles by effect size (including confidence intervals), inclusion of power calculations and quality using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale. Only studies scoring seven or more on the PEDro scale (classed by the PEDro as high reliability) were retained.No systematic reviews met our criteria for inclusion from 846 articles yielded by the systematic search. Nine randomized control trials investigating 15 interventions to improve motor skills met our inclusion criteria for 'high quality'. Nevertheless, not all included studies were adequately powered for determining an effect.Large effect sizes associated with 95 % confidence intervals suggest that 'Neuromotor Task Training', 'Task-oriented Motor Training' and 'Motor Imagery + Task Practice Training' are the most effective reported interventions for improving motor skills in children with developmental coordination disorder

Institutional context: What elements shape how community occupational therapists think about their clients’ care?

Abstract : Clinical reasoning (CR) is the cognitive process that therapists use to plan, direct, perform and reflect on client care. Linked to intervention efficiency and quality, CR is a core competency that occurs within an institutional context (legal, regulatory, administrative and organisational elements). Because this context can shape how community therapists think about their clients’ care, its involvement in their CR could have a major impact on the interventions delivered. However, little is known about this involvement. Our study thus aimed to describe the elements of the institutional context involved in community therapists’ CR. From March 2012 to June 2014, we conducted an institutional ethnography (IE) inquiry in three Health and Social Services Centres in Québec (Canada). We observed participants and conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 occupational therapists. We also interviewed 12 secondary key informants (colleagues and managers) and collected administrative documents (n = 50). We analysed data using the IE process. Of the 13 elements of the institutional context identified, we found that four are almost constantly involved in participants’ CR. These four elements, that is, institutional procedures, organisation's basket of services, occupational therapists’ mandate and wait times for their services, restrictively shape CR. Specifically, occupational therapists restrict their representation of the client's situation and exploration of potential solutions to what is possible within the bounds of these four elements. In light of such restrictions on the way they think about their clients’ care, therapists should pay close attention to the elements of their own institutional context and how they are involved in their CR. Because of its potentially important impact on the future of professions (e.g. further restrictions on professionals’ role, reduced contribution to population health and well-being), this involvement of the institutional context in CR concerns all professionals, be they clinicians, educators, researchers or regulatory college officers