Managing the grading paradox: leveraging the power of choice in the classroom

How can management educators cultivate students' interest in the MBA classroom? Inspiring interest, an important antecedent of learning, can be an uphill battle due to the ubiquitous presence of grades. Grades are meant to encourage interest, yet they often do just the opposite. The result is a grading paradox. We hypothesize that leveraging choice in the classroom can manage this grading paradox by increasing interest. In a field experiment in real-world MBA classrooms (N = 91 students), we found that a choice intervention, the opportunity for students to allocate the weight of several course components toward their final course grade, was associated with higher levels of two types of interest, triggered situational interest and maintained situational interest. This study corroborates and extends previous laboratory-based research documenting the positive relationship between choice and interest, and offers a practical tool that management educators can use to encourage student interest

Post-hospital medical respite care and hospital readmission of homeless persons

Medical respite programs offer medical, nursing, and other care as well as accommodation for homeless persons discharged from acute hospital stays. They represent a community-based adaptation of urban health systems to the specific needs of homeless persons. This article examines whether post-hospital discharge to a homeless medical respite program was associated with a reduced chance of 90-day readmission compared to other disposition options. Adjusting for imbalances in patient characteristics using propensity scores, respite patients were the only group that was significantly less likely to be readmitted within 90 days compared to those released to Own Care. Respite programs merit attention as a potentially efficacious service for homeless persons leaving the hospital

Association of Low‐Charge‐State Heavy Ions up to 200 R e upstream of the Earth's bow shock with geomagnetic disturbances

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94741/1/grl14934.pd

Exposure Patterns in the Digital Domain: A Demographic Analysis of Media Use and Access in the United States

In this study we examine and extend knowledge in a relatively neglected area of diversity research in the digital domain: exposure diversity. Specifically, we assess how different demographic groups use digital devices to consume media content and connect with one another. Two hundred and ninety-seven participants were surveyed about the digital media devices they have and what they do with them. We analyzed access and use in terms of users’ age, gender, race, annual income, and education. Our results confirm the persistence of a digital divide with regard to exposure diversity and continue to verify earlier findings regarding significant differences in media use and access in different demographic groups

Outcomes of Spatially Fractionated Radiotherapy (GRID) for Bulky Soft Tissue Sarcomas in a Large Animal Model

GRID directs alternating regions of high- and low-dose radiation at tumors. A large animal model mimicking the geometries of human treatments is needed to complement existing rodent systems (eg, microbeam) and clarify the physical and biological attributes of GRID. A pilot study was undertaken in pet dogs with spontaneous soft tissue sarcomas to characterize responses to GRID. Subjects were treated with either 20 Gy (3 dogs) or 25 Gy (3 dogs), delivered using 6 MV X-rays and a commercial GRID collimator. Acute toxicity and tumor responses were assessed 2, 4, and 6 weeks later. Acute Radiation Therapy Oncology Group grade I skin toxicity was observed in 3 of the 6 dogs; none experienced a measurable response, per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors. Serum vascular endothelial growth factor, tumor necrosis factor α, and secretory sphingomyelinase were assayed at baseline, 1, 4, 24, and 48 hours after treatment. There was a trend toward platelet-corrected serum vascular endothelial growth factor concentration being lower 1 and 48 hours after GRID than at baseline. There was a significant decrease in secretory sphingomyelinase activity 48 hours after 25 Gy GRID (P = .03). Serum tumor necrosis factor α was quantified measurable at baseline in 4 of the 6 dogs and decreased in each of those subjects at all post-GRID time points. The new information generated by this study includes the observation that high-dose, single fraction application of GRID does not induce measurable reduction in volume of canine soft tissue sarcomas. In contrast to previously published data, these data suggest that GRID may be associated with at least short-term reduction in serum concentration of vascular endothelial growth factor and serum activity of secretory sphingomyelinase. Because GRID can be applied safely, and these tumors can be subsequently surgically resected as part of routine veterinary care, pet dogs with sarcomas are an appealing model for studying the radiobiologic responses to spatially fractionated radiotherapy