Inside the Black Box of Doctoral Education: What Program Characteristics Influence Doctoral Students’ Attrition and Graduation Probabilities?

[Excerpt] In this paper, we go inside the “black box” of graduate education to investigate what characteristics of graduate programs in the humanities and related social sciences actually influence PhD students’ attrition and graduation probabilities. We make use of data from the Graduate Education Survey; a retrospective survey of all graduate students who entered PhD programs in the treatment and control departments during the 1982-1997 period that was conducted by Mathematica Policy Research Inc. for the Mellon Foundation. After briefly describing the survey in the next section, section III outlines our methodological approach. Section IV presents our empirical findings and brief concluding remarks appear in section V. While our focus is on evaluating the effects of the GEI, we believe the methodological approach that we use can be profitably employed in a wide range of program evaluation studies

Photovoltaic Emulator LabVIEW Based Modeling and Simulation

The design goal for this project is to create a system capable of creating a consistent testing environment for photovoltaic inverters and charge controllers. The solution is to create a photovoltaic emulator which is a DC power supply that would have the same electrical output characteristics to a photovoltaic panel. In current systems, consistency problems arise when depending on nature to conduct tests on PV modules because it is impossible to properly replicate scenarios while testing specific conditions. This project will provide the user the ability to test their PV modules under various parameters which replicate real-world scenarios such as temperature and weather conditions. This paper will outline the design and simulation of a photovoltaic emulator. Regarding the change in learning environment due to Covid-19, the original scope of the project had to be appropriately adjusted. All aspects of “Section 2: Project Planning” as well as the “Appendix A: Senior Project Design Analysis” will still account for the original design choices made during fall quarter preparation. “Section 3: System Design” will more accurately reflect the true scope of project. Please refer to “Appendix B: Alterations Due to Covid-19” for more details on changes made to better accommodate the situation

In vivo evaluation of the inhibitory capacity of human plasma on exogenous surfactant function

Objective: The adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) are characterized by high permeability pulmonary edema which contains plasma-derived proteins inhibiting pulmonary surfactant function. Currently, discussion continues as to what dose of surfactant is required for treatment of these syndromes. Design: The purpose of this study was to investigate the amount of exogenous surfactant needed to overcome the inhibitory components in human plasma. Male adult rats suffering from respiratory failure due to surfactant depletion after whole-lung lavage received human plasma (4 ml/kg body weight) mixed with surfactant at different concentrations, intratracheally. Rats receiving surf

News-driven return reversals: Liquidity provision ahead of earnings announcements

This study documents a six-fold increase in short-term return reversals during earnings announcements relative to non-announcement periods. Following prior research, we use reversals as a proxy for expected returns market makers demand for providing liquidity. Our findings highlight significant time-series variation in the magnitude of short-term return reversals and suggest that market makers demand higher expected returns prior to earnings announcements because of increased inventory risks that stem from holding net positions through the release of anticipated earnings news. Collectively, our findings suggest that uncertainty regarding anticipated information events elicits predictable increases in the compensation demanded for providing liquidity and that these increases significantly affect the dynamics and information content of market prices

Simulation Training on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation

Conventional extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) training usually only consists of didactic lectures and water drill of ECMO circuit. However, learners cannot “experience” changes of clinical condition of patients. Simulation-based learning is a perfect answer to this by providing participantsauthentic, interactive, team-based training without risk to real patients. Hospital Authority (HA) of Hong Kong has implemented a corporatewide ECMO simulation-based training program since 2014. It aims to provide a structural and standardized training opportunity for clinical staff members to gain hands-on experience in ECMO circuit management and troubleshooting technique. In the program, participants will go through three categories of scenarios: (1) replicate common real patient clinical experience; (2) replicate incident that only happens infrequently; and (3) imitate clinical situation that is rarely happened but life threatening, and where prompt and correct actions are necessary. Every scenario has its own debriefing session that covers technical and human factor issues.Since 2014, 32 identical full-day courses were conducted and 285 doctors and nurses were trained. All participants were satisfied with the training and expressed that the simulation was an effective model for ECMO training. The training met their need and they could apply what they learned in real-life practice

Neuroscience Attitudes, Exposure, and Knowledge among Counselors

The purpose of this study was to explore the neuroscience attitudes, exposure, myths, and knowledge among counselors at various stages of their careers. Descriptive statistics were used to highlight the current state of neuroscience attitudes, exposure, myths, and knowledge among a sample of counselors (N = 416). The results showed that participants had positive attitudes towards neuroscience, were exposed to neuroscience information through various methods, believed neuroscience should be integrated in over half of the counselor education curriculum, had high levels of neuroscience knowledge (85%), and had average levels of neuromyths endorsed (56%). The results provide insights that can guide the infusion of neuroscience into the counselor education curriculum

In Situ Quantification of Surface Chemistry in Porous Collagen Biomaterials

Cells inside a 3D matrix (such as tissue extracellular matrix or biomaterials) sense their insoluble environment through specific binding interactions between their adhesion receptors and ligands present on the matrix surface. Despite the critical role of the insoluble matrix in cell regulation, there exist no widely-applicable methods for quantifying the chemical stimuli provided by a matrix to cells. Here, we describe a general-purpose technique for quantifying in situ the density of ligands for specific cell adhesion receptors of interest on the surface of a 3D matrix. This paper improves significantly the accuracy of the procedure introduced in a previous publication by detailed marker characterization, optimized staining, and improved data interpretation. The optimized methodology is utilized to quantify the ligands of integrins α[subscript 1]β[subscript 1], α[subscript 2]β[subscript 1] on two kinds of matched porous collagen scaffolds, which are shown to possess significantly different ligand density, and significantly different ability to induce peripheral nerve regeneration in vivo. Data support the hypothesis that cell adhesion regulates contractile cell phenotypes, recently shown to be inversely related to organ regeneration. The technique provides a standardized way to quantify the surface chemistry of 3D matrices, and a means for introducing matrix effects in quantitative biological models.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant RO1 NS051320)National Institutes of Health. National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (Biomechanics Training Grant T32EB006348)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship Program (Grant DGE-1122374)Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART). BioSym IRGComputation and Systems Biology Programme of Singapore--Massachusetts Institute of Technology AllianceNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant 9P41EB015871-26A1