Keeping College Pricey: The Bootlegger and Baptist Story of Higher Education Accreditation

Since the passage of the Veterans Readjustment Act of 1952, private accrediting agencies have held the purse strings to all federal student aid. Today, six regional accrediting agencies and ten national accrediting agencies act as the gatekeepers of these federal monies. No college or university can access federal funds without receiving the imprimatur of one of these recognized accrediting agencies. Proponents of the current system of accreditation argue that the framework presently in place ultimately benefits both students and the public at large by fulfilling quality assurance and information signaling functions. Applying Yandle’s “Baptists and Bootleggers” model, we examine whether the accreditation system in this country exclusively serves the public interest by ensuring that institutions are meeting high standards of excellence or whether this system instead serves private interests. We begin by briefly outlining the history of accreditation in the United States before explaining the public choice lens through which we explore the issue of higher education accreditation—Yandle’s Baptists and Bootleggers model. After highlighting the public interest (“Baptist”) arguments many policy advocates have raised in favor of accreditation, we consider whether the quantitative and the qualitative evidence supports the public interest story. We then turn to the public choice (“Bootleggers”) account of the current accreditation system and argue that the current system of higher education accreditation serves as a cartel aimed at keeping the price of a college education high, with little incentives for anything beyond minimum quality standards. We test this hypothesis by analyzing the opposition raised by universities and accrediting agencies alike to 34 C.F.R.§ 600.9—a regulation promulgated in October 2010 dealing with the state’s power to deny federal funds to schools that fail to meet its independent authorization requirements, even if the school is already accredited by one of the recognized accrediting agencies. We suggest that the current system of compulsory accreditation should be abolished and should be replaced by a system run independently by each state. Ultimately, competition between the states both for students and for new and innovative universities would result in reforms that the accreditors have no incentive to pursue under the current system

Extracorporeal shockwave therapy for the treatment of lower limb intermittent claudication: Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial (the SHOCKWAVE 1 trial)

© 2017 The Author(s). Background: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) has a population prevalence of 4.6% with intermittent claudication (IC) presenting as one of the earliest and most common symptoms. PAD has detrimental effects on patients' walking ability in terms of maximum walking distance (MWD) and pain-free walking distance (PFWD). Research has suggested extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) may induce angiogenesis in treated tissue; therefore, our objective is to assess the tolerability and efficacy of ESWT as a novel treatment of intermittent claudication. Methods/design: Patients with unilateral claudication will be randomised to receive either ESWT (PiezoWave 2 shockwave system) or sham treatment to the calf muscle bulk three times per week for 3 weeks. All patients are blinded to treatment group, and all assessments will be performed by a masked assessor. Treatment tolerability using a visual analogue scale, ankle-brachial pressure index, MWD, PFWD and safety will all be formally assessed as outcome measures at baseline and at 4, 8 and 12 weeks follow-up. Discussion: This trial will be the first of its kind in terms of methodology in relation to ESWT for intermittent claudication. A double-masked randomised controlled trial will provide useful information about the potential for the use of ESWT as a non-invasive treatment option and the need for further robust research. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02652078. Registered on 17 October 2014

Positive airway pressure ventilation and complications in pediatric tracheocutaneous fistula repair

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152684/1/lary27834_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152684/2/lary27834.pd

Genome integration and excision by a new Streptomyces bacteriophage, ϕJoe

Bacteriophages are the source of many valuable tools for molecular biology and genetic manipulation. In Streptomyces, most DNA cloning vectors are based on serine integrase site-specific DNA recombination systems derived from phage. Because of their efficiency and simplicity, serine integrases are also used for diverse synthetic biology applications. Here we present the genome of a new Streptomyces phage, ϕJoe, and investigate the conditions for integration and excision of the φJoe genome. ϕJoe belongs to the largest Streptomyces phage cluster (R4-like) and encodes a serine integrase. The attB site from S. venezuelae was used efficiently by an integrating plasmid, pCMF92, constructed using the ϕJoe int/attP locus. The attB site for ϕJoe integrase was occupied in several Streptomyces genomes, including S. coelicolor, by a mobile element that varies in gene content and size between host species. Serine integrases require a phage-encoded recombination directionality factor (RDF) to activate the excision reaction. The ϕJoe RDF was identified and its function was confirmed in vivo Both the integrase and RDF were active in in vitro recombination assays. The ϕJoe site-specific recombination system is likely to be an important addition to the synthetic biology and genome engineering toolbox. IMPORTANCE: Streptomyces spp. are prolific producers of secondary metabolites including many clinically useful antibiotics. Bacteriophage-derived integrases are important tools for genetic engineering as they enable integration of heterologous DNA into the Streptomyces chromosome with ease and high efficiency. Recently researchers have been applying phage integrases for a variety of applications in synthetic biology, including rapid assembly of novel combinations of genes, biosensors and biocomputing. An important requirement for optimal experimental design and predictability when using integrases, however, is the need for multiple enzymes with different specificities for their integration sites. In order to provide a broad platform of integrases we identified and validated the integrase from a newly isolated Streptomyces phage, ϕJoe. ϕJoe integrase is active in vitro and in vivo The specific recognition site for integration is present in a wide range of different Actinobacteria, including Streptomyces venezuelae, an emerging model bacterium in Streptomyces research

Long Noncoding RNA Moderates MicroRNA Activity to Maintain Self-Renewal in Embryonic Stem Cells

Of the thousands of long noncoding RNAs expressed in embryonic stem cells (ESCs), few have known roles and fewer have been functionally implicated in the regulation of self-renewal and pluripotency, or the reprogramming of somatic cells to the pluripotent state. In ESCs, Cyrano is a stably expressed long intergenic noncoding RNA with no previously assigned role. We demonstrate that Cyrano contributes to ESC maintenance, as its depletion results in the loss of hallmarks of self-renewal. Delineation of Cyrano's network through transcriptomics revealed widespread effects on signaling pathways and gene expression networks that contribute to ESC maintenance. Cyrano shares unique sequence complementarity with the differentiation-associated microRNA, mir-7, and mir-7 overexpression reduces expression of a key self-renewal factor to a similar extent as Cyrano knockdown. This suggests that Cyrano functions to restrain the action of mir-7. Altogether, we provide a view into the multifaceted function of Cyrano in ESC maintenance

Demonstrating Cerebral Vascular Networks: A Comparison of Methods for the Teaching Laboratory

One challenge of neuroscience educators is to make accessible to students as many aspects of brain structure and function as possible. The anatomy and function of the cerebrovasculature is among many topics of neuroscience that are underrepresented in undergraduate neuroscience education. Recognizing this deficit, we evaluated methods to produce archival tissue specimens of the cerebrovasculature and the “neurovascular unit” for instruction and demonstration in the teaching lab. An additional goal of this project was to identify the costs of each method as well as to determine which method(s) could be adapted into lab exercises, where students participate in the tissue preparation, staining, etc. In the present report, we detail several methods for demonstrating the cerebrovasculature and suggest that including this material can be a valuable addition to more traditional anatomy/physiology demonstrations and exercises

Small business strategic management practices and performance: A configurational approach

Small businesses contribute to society on many fronts: job creation, tax revenues, functional products and services, charitable donations, technological developments, and social contributions to communities. Given these contributions, and small firms’ limited resources, it is important to understand what strategic management practices (SMPs)–activities engaged to develop and implement strategy–positively impact small firm performance. Small business leaders may apply various combinations of SMPs to achieve performance objectives. Here, we apply Fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to explore how various combinations of six different SMPs–entrepreneurial orientation (EO), strategic planning, goal setting, total quality management (TQM), social capital, and small business owners’ analysis of financial ratios–affect performance. From a sample of U.S. printing companies, we found four different configurations of SMPs related to higher small business performance