Pull and Push Factors That Influence a Student\u27s Decision to Drop Out of School

The high school dropout rate in the United States has historically been and continues to remain a persistent concern. The dropout epidemic has primarily been studied through a quantitative lens focused on the final decision to dropout rather than the complex sequence of events that factor into the dropout decision. The purpose of this study was to explore the pull/push factors that influenced a student\u27s decision to drop out of high school. In this qualitative study, attention was given to both understanding how students described their reasons for dropping out of school and identification of any factors that could have led them to remain in school and earn a diploma. The conceptual framework was based on pull/push factors related to students dropping out. Through a case study design, 10 participants, classified as dropouts by the selected research site, were interviewed about the influence of the push/pull factors of poverty, absence, and engagement in their decision to drop out of school. Data were analyzed through an iterative process wherein patterns were discerned appropriately. The findings support 4 central influences that serve as both pull and push factors in the decision to drop out: disinterest/disengagement, teacher connection, a sense of hopelessness, and an end to any desire to succeed in school. Furthermore, the findings support the development of school and district-wide identification and intervention programs that make relationships with students the foundation and guide educators and local policy makers in making decisions that support student success and increase the likelihood a student at risk for dropping out would remain in school and earn a high school diploma

Effects of a standard provision versus an autonomy supportive exercise referral programme on physical activity, quality of life and well-being indicators:a cluster randomised controlled trial

Background: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the UK has recommended that the effectiveness of ongoing exercise referral schemes to promote physical activity should be examined in research trials. Recent empirical evidence in health care and physical activity promotion contexts provides a foundation for testing the feasibility and impact of a Self Determination Theory-based (SDT) exercise referral consultation. Methods: An exploratory cluster randomised controlled trial comparing standard provision exercise referral with an exercise referral intervention grounded in Self Determination Theory. Individuals (N = 347) referred to an exercise referral scheme were recruited into the trial from 13 centres. Outcomes and processes of change measured at baseline, 3 and 6-months: Minutes of self-reported moderate or vigorous physical activity (PA) per week (primary outcome), health status, positive and negative indicators of emotional well-being, anxiety, depression, quality of life (QOL), vitality, and perceptions of autonomy support from the advisor, need satisfaction (3 and 6 months only), intentions to be active, and motivational regulations for exercise. Blood pressure and weight were assessed at baseline and 6 months.Results: Perceptions of the autonomy support provided by the health and fitness advisor (HFA) did not differ by arm. Between group changes over the 6-months revealed significant differences for reported anxiety only. Within arm contrasts revealed significant improvements in anxiety and most of the Dartmouth CO-OP domains in the SDT arm at 6 months, which were not seen in the standard exercise referral group. A process model depicting hypothesized relationships between advisor autonomy support, need satisfaction and more autonomous motivation, enhanced well being and PA engagement at follow up was supported. Conclusions: Significant gains in physical activity and improvements in quality of life and well-being outcomes emerged in both the standard provision exercise referral and the SDT-based intervention at programme end. At 6-months, observed between arm and within intervention arm differences for indicators of emotional health, and the results of the process model, were in line with SDT. The challenges in optimising recruitment and implementation of SDT-based training in the context of health and leisure services are discussed

Energy input is primary controller of methane bubbling in subarctic lakes

Emission of methane (CH4) from surface waters is often dominated by ebullition (bubbling), a transport mode with high‐spatiotemporal variability. Based on new and extensive CH4 ebullition data, we demonstrate striking correlations (r2 between 0.92 and 0.997) when comparing seasonal bubble CH4 flux from three shallow subarctic lakes to four readily measurable proxies of incoming energy flux and daily flux magnitudes to surface sediment temperature (r2 between 0.86 and 0.94). Our results after continuous multiyear sampling suggest that CH4 ebullition is a predictable process, and that heat flux into the lakes is the dominant driver of gas production and release. Future changes in the energy received by lakes and ponds due to shorter ice‐covered seasons will predictably alter the ebullitive CH4 flux from freshwater systems across northern landscapes. This finding is critical for our understanding of the dynamics of radiatively important trace gas sources and associated climate feedback

Stem Rust Resistance in 1BL.1RS and 2RL.2BS Double Wheat-Rye Translocation Lines

The wheat stem rust pathogen, Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici, is a significant and devastating disease of wheat crops worldwide. Wheat has many wild relatives in which to source new resistance genes, including the cereal crop of rye in the tertiary genepool. The aim of this study was to assess the reaction of 1BL.1RS and 2RL.2BS double wheat-rye translocation lines to virulent stem rust races from Africa and North America. BC1F3 and BC1F4 populations from a cross between the line KR99-139 (a double wheat-rye translocation line with 1BL.1RS and 2RL.2BS) and the bread wheat cultivar Topper were used in the study. Several of the populations homozygous for 1BL.1RS and heterozygous for 2RL.2BS showed resistance and low severity adult plant resistance (20RMR-50MSS) to the African stem rust race TTKSK in the field. None of the tested populations with varying chromosome combinations showed seedling resistance to any of the tested stem rust races. Thus, these resistant populations likely carry gene/s effective at the adult plant stage since all stage resistance genes with major effect appear to be absent based on the seedling assays. Resistant lines combined three chromosomes (1RS, 2RS and 2BS) which make their direct use in breeding more complicated. Mapping studies followed by potential transfer of genes between 2R and 2B will make the identified minor genes more useful in wheat breeding

An "ethical moment" in data sharing

This study draws on interviews with forty-nine members of a biomedical research community in the UK that is involved in negotiating data sharing and access. During an interview, an interviewee used the words “ethical moment” to describe a confrontation between collaborators in relation to data sharing. In this article, I use this as a lens for thinking about relations between “the conceptual and the empirical” in a way that allows both analyst and actor to challenge the status quo and consider other ethical possibilities. Drawing on actor network theory (ANT), I approach “the empirical” using the concepts of controversy and ontological uncertainty as methodological tools to tackle the problem of ethics. I suggest that these concepts also provide a bridge for understanding the ontological structure of the virtual and the actual, as described in Deleuze’s Difference and Repetition. While other science and technology studies scholars have sought to draw on Deleuze, this article addresses the integration of ethics and empirical research. It arises as a critical reaction to existing treatments of this problem as found in empirical ethics, especially in the sociology of bioethics, and indirectly in ANT texts

Surgical site infection after gastrointestinal surgery in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries: a prospective, international, multicentre cohort study

Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most common infections associated with health care, but its importance as a global health priority is not fully understood. We quantified the burden of SSI after gastrointestinal surgery in countries in all parts of the world. Methods: This international, prospective, multicentre cohort study included consecutive patients undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection within 2-week time periods at any health-care facility in any country. Countries with participating centres were stratified into high-income, middle-income, and low-income groups according to the UN's Human Development Index (HDI). Data variables from the GlobalSurg 1 study and other studies that have been found to affect the likelihood of SSI were entered into risk adjustment models. The primary outcome measure was the 30-day SSI incidence (defined by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for superficial and deep incisional SSI). Relationships with explanatory variables were examined using Bayesian multilevel logistic regression models. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02662231. Findings: Between Jan 4, 2016, and July 31, 2016, 13 265 records were submitted for analysis. 12 539 patients from 343 hospitals in 66 countries were included. 7339 (58·5%) patient were from high-HDI countries (193 hospitals in 30 countries), 3918 (31·2%) patients were from middle-HDI countries (82 hospitals in 18 countries), and 1282 (10·2%) patients were from low-HDI countries (68 hospitals in 18 countries). In total, 1538 (12·3%) patients had SSI within 30 days of surgery. The incidence of SSI varied between countries with high (691 [9·4%] of 7339 patients), middle (549 [14·0%] of 3918 patients), and low (298 [23·2%] of 1282) HDI (p < 0·001). The highest SSI incidence in each HDI group was after dirty surgery (102 [17·8%] of 574 patients in high-HDI countries; 74 [31·4%] of 236 patients in middle-HDI countries; 72 [39·8%] of 181 patients in low-HDI countries). Following risk factor adjustment, patients in low-HDI countries were at greatest risk of SSI (adjusted odds ratio 1·60, 95% credible interval 1·05–2·37; p=0·030). 132 (21·6%) of 610 patients with an SSI and a microbiology culture result had an infection that was resistant to the prophylactic antibiotic used. Resistant infections were detected in 49 (16·6%) of 295 patients in high-HDI countries, in 37 (19·8%) of 187 patients in middle-HDI countries, and in 46 (35·9%) of 128 patients in low-HDI countries (p < 0·001). Interpretation: Countries with a low HDI carry a disproportionately greater burden of SSI than countries with a middle or high HDI and might have higher rates of antibiotic resistance. In view of WHO recommendations on SSI prevention that highlight the absence of high-quality interventional research, urgent, pragmatic, randomised trials based in LMICs are needed to assess measures aiming to reduce this preventable complication

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants

Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks

Heterogeneous contributions of change in population distribution of body mass index to change in obesity and underweight NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in different regions using data from 2896 population-based studies with 187 million participants. Changes in the prevalence of underweight and total obesity, and to a lesser extent severe obesity, are largely driven by shifts in the distribution of BMI, with smaller contributions from changes in the shape of the distribution. In East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the underweight tail of the BMI distribution was left behind as the distribution shifted. There is a need for policies that address all forms of malnutrition by making healthy foods accessible and affordable, while restricting unhealthy foods through fiscal and regulatory restrictions

A history of the ecumenical movement 1517-1948.

Genevaxviii, 838 p.; 24 cm

The role of the district superintendent as an instructional leader in systemic change

The role of the district superintendent as an instructional leader in systemic change is paramount to the degree and sustainability of change. Through the use of an electronic survey incorporating closed- and open-ended questions, the study examined the characteristics, habits of mind or dispositions, and leadership skills or styles used by an instructional leader in systemic change. Results of the study revealed themes related to the characteristics and habits of mind or dispositions, as well as specific leadership styles used by superintendents in correlation with the leadership framework described by Fullan (2004). Recommendations include revisions and realignment of the professional standards for the superintendency, which inform change in superintendent preparation programs offered by institutes of higher education and professional organizations