Three essays on higher education outcomes

This dissertation consists of three chapters examining issues relevant to higher education outcomes. The first essay examines the impact of state merit-aid program adoption on the stock of human capital across rural and urban populations. Using data from the 1990 and 2000 Decennial Censuses and the 2008-2012 American Community Survey, I utilize a staggered difference-in-difference methodology that exploits the exogenous variation in the timing of program adoption to produce causal estimates. Program adoption reduces bachelor's degree holders in rural counties by 1.2 percentage points. The second essay measures the impact of honors college participation on collegiate outcomes at a large, public-land grant midwestern university by leveraging strict eligibility criteria using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. For compliers near the threshold, honors participation increases first- and senior-year cumulative grade-point averages but has no statistically significant effect on persistence or graduation rates. The third essay is a descriptive analysis that measures the extent to which education-job mismatch and its consequences vary by degree field for Ph.D. recipients from a large, publicland grant midwestern university from 2011 to 2020. The study relies on a novel dataset compiled from publicly accessible sources online. Relative to other degree fields, engineering Ph.D. graduates were the most likely to work in occupations for which they were over-educated or outside of their field. There is also some evidence that mismatch may be positively correlated with occupation-level earnings.Includes bibliographical references

Alumni social mobility and giving to their Alma Mater

The study utilized a quantitative correlational research design to examine the association between alumni social mobility and giving at a large, public research university. The findings revealed that as alumni social mobility increased, the probability of being a donor, and total giving levels, increased. The findings have implications for fundraising practitioners as alumni social mobility can serve as indicator for propensity to give and for targeting fundraising efforts. The study contributes to the research on higher education fundraising by demonstrating how to incorporate both theory and educational mission into the alumni characteristics selected for analysis

Portfolios and pedagogy : an examination of ideology and use

Portfolio use in writing studies contexts is becoming ubiquitous and, as such, portfolios are in danger of being rendered meaningless and thus require that we more fully theorize and historicize portfolios. To this end, I examine portfolios: both the standardized portfolio used for assessment purposes and the personalized portfolio used for entering the job market. I take a critical look at portfolios as a form of technology and acknowledge some of the dangers of blindly using portfolios for gaining employment in the current economic structure of fast capitalism. As educators in the writing studies fields, it is paramount that instructors have a critical awareness of the consequences of portfolio creation on students as designers, lifelong learners, and citizens of a larger society. I argue that a better understanding of the pedagogical implications for portfolio use is imperative before implementing them in the classroom, and that a social-epistemic approach provides a valuable rethinking of portfolio use for assessment purposes. Further, I argue for the notions of meditation and transformation to be added alongside collection, selection, and reflection because they enable portfolio designers and evaluators alike to thoughtfully consider new ways of meaning-making and innovation. Also important and included with meditation and transformation is the understanding that students are ideologically positioned in the educational system. For them to begin recognizing their situatedness is a step toward becoming designers of change. The portfolio can be a site for that change, and a way for them to document their own learning and ways of making meaning over a lifetime

2011 Applied Projects Organizational Impact Report

In fall 2010, the Caster Center for Nonprofit and Philanthropic Research administered a survey to explore the impact of student-led applied projects on client organizations and the local community. The survey is the second part of a community impact study of the Masters of Arts in Nonprofit Leadership and Management (NLM) at the University of San Diego. The survey was distributed to client organizations during the 2010-2011 academic year to assess client organization satisfaction and successful use of the projects. The survey investigated whether applied projects had an impact on the organization’s operations or the community, and if so, to assess the type and duration of that impact.https://digital.sandiego.edu/npi-appliedprojects/1002/thumbnail.jp

Evidence-Based Intervention for Sleep Disturbance in Healthy Elderly Individuals

Elderly individuals have a predisposition to experiencing sleep disorder, yet many remain untreated. Consequences of untreated sleep disturbance may result in decreased cognitive functioning, lowered perceived quality of life, and loss of independence. A literature review describes the definition of sleep, consequences of sleep disorder, sleep disturbance in the elderly population, intervention efficacy, principles of gerogogy, and the role of occupational therapy in sleep intervention. The scholarly project presents a manual designed for use with well-elderly populations and intended to be guided and/or distributed by occupational therapists. The manual is entitled “Take Control of Your Sleep: An Occupational Therapy Manual to Improve Sleep Quality in Elderly Individuals” is a synthesis of cognitive-behavioral strategies and complimentary interventions aimed at life-style change and increased knowledge of sleep processes in elderly individuals. The Model of Human Occupation is selected to serve as a foundation for the sleep manual and addresses concepts of personal values and desires (volition), sleep routines (habituation), and metacognition (performance capacity), as well as attention to the sleep environment. The cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) approach is well-supported in the research literature for its application to the selected population and is the main intervention strategy used throughout the sleep manual. Principles of gerogogy specific to older adult learning are utilized to guide the development of chapter content in the self-help manual

Parity and diabetes risk among Hispanic women from Colombia: Cross-sectional evidence

Objective The association between parity and type 2 diabetes has been studied in developed countries and in Singapore and Chinese women but not in Hispanics. Herein we evaluated the association between parity (number of live births) with diabetes in a group of Hispanic postmenopausal women from Colombia. Research design and methods Herein we evaluated the association between parity and diabetes in a population of 1,795 women from Colombia. Women were divided in birth categories (0 [referent], 1 or 2, 3–5, 6 or \u3e births). Medical history of diabetes and anthropometric characteristics were recorded. Logistic regressions were performed in order to find the association between parity and diabetes in bivariable and multivariable models after controlling for age, body mass index (BMI), waist hip ratio (WHR) and diabetes family history, among other variables. Results In our study, there was an association between parity and diabetes after adjusting for age, BMI and diabetes family history in the multiparous women groups when compared to the women with no births (Referent group) [1–2 births vs. referent OR 5.2 (95 CI 1.2–22.9), 3–5 births vs. referent OR 5.5 (1.3–23.0) and ≥6 births vs. referent OR 7.5 (1.8–31.8), respectively]. The association was maintained in two of the groups in the multivariable analysis [OR 5.0 (1.1–22.9) and 5.3 (1.2–23.5)], for 1 or 2 births and 6 or \u3e births versus 0 births, respectively. Positive diabetes family history and WHR were also associated with an increased risk of diabetes [OR 4.6 (3.0–7.0) and 4.1 (2.0–8.1), respectively]. Conclusions In postmenopausal Hispanic women, multiparity, as well as a positive family history of diabetes and a high waist-hip ratio were associated with higher diabetes risk

Materials research for high-speed civil transport and generic hypersonics: Composites durability

This report covers a portion of an ongoing investigation of the durability of composites for the High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) program. Candidate HSCT composites need to possess the high-temperature capability required for supersonic flight. This program was designed to initiate the design, analysis, fabrication, and testing of equipment intended for use in validating the long-term durability of materials for the HSCT. This equipment includes thermally actuated compression and tension fixtures, hydraulic-actuated reversible load fixtures, and thermal chambers. This equipment can be used for the durability evaluation of both composite and adhesive materials. Thermally actuated fixtures are recommended for fatigue cycling when long-term thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) data are required on coupon-sized tension or compression specimens. Long term durability testing plans for polymer matrix composite specimens are included

Evidence for ACTN3 as a genetic modifier of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is characterized by muscle degeneration and progressive weakness. There is considerable inter-patient variability in disease onset and progression, which can confound the results of clinical trials. Here we show that a common null polymorphism (R577X) in ACTN3 results in significantly reduced muscle strength and a longer 10\u2009m walk test time in young, ambulant patients with DMD; both of which are primary outcome measures in clinical trials. We have developed a double knockout mouse model, which also shows reduced muscle strength, but is protected from stretch-induced eccentric damage with age. This suggests that \u3b1-actinin-3 deficiency reduces muscle performance at baseline, but ameliorates the progression of dystrophic pathology. Mechanistically, we show that \u3b1-actinin-3 deficiency triggers an increase in oxidative muscle metabolism through activation of calcineurin, which likely confers the protective effect. Our studies suggest that ACTN3 R577X genotype is a modifier of clinical phenotype in DMD patients

Concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and 2,4,6-tribromophenol in human placental tissues

Legacy environmental contaminants such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are widely detected in human tissues. However, few studies have measured PBDEs in placental tissues, and there are no reported measurements of 2,4,6-tribromophenol (2,4,6-TBP) in placental tissues. Measurements of these contaminants are important for understanding potential fetal exposures, as these compounds have been shown to alter thyroid hormone regulation in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we measured a suite of PBDEs and 2,4,6-TBP in 102 human placental tissues collected between 2010 and 2011 in Durham County, North Carolina, USA. The most abundant PBDE congener detected was BDE-47, with a mean concentration of 5.09 ng/g lipid (range: 0.12–141 ng/g lipid; detection frequency 91%); however, 2,4,6-TBP was ubiquitously detected and present at higher concentrations with a mean concentration of 15.4 ng/g lipid (range:1.31–316 ng/g lipid; detection frequency 100%). BDE-209 was also detected in more than 50% of the samples, and was significantly associated with 2,4,6-TBP in placental tissues, suggesting they may have a similar source, or that 2,4,6-TBP may be a degradation product of BDE-209. Interestingly, BDE-209 and 2,4,6-TBP were negatively associated with age (rs = − 0.16; p = 0.10 and rs = − 0.17; p = 0.08, respectively). The results of this work indicate that PBDEs and 2,4,6-TBP bioaccumulate in human placenta tissue and likely contribute to prenatal exposures to these environmental contaminants. Future studies are needed to determine if these joint exposures are associated with any adverse health measures in infants and children