A New Way of Looking at Philadelphians

Pew has created a new way of looking at Philadelphians, one rooted in how they think about the city rather than where they show up in demographic categories. The analysis, based on a telephone survey of 1,603 randomly chosen Philadelphians in early 2015, sorts adult city residents into four groups. We have labeled those groups Dissatisfied Citizens, Die-Hard Loyalists, Uncommitted Skeptics, and Enthusiastic Urbanists. This effort was modeled on work done nationally by our colleagues at the Pew Research Center in Washington. Through this type of polling and analysis, the center has sorted Americans into groupings based on values and attitudes, going beyond the simple labels of liberal and conservative. For Philadelphia, we set out to do something similar -- although not on the left-right spectrum -- in hopes of increasing public understanding of the city and its residents

Parental Involvement during the College Transition: Trajectories and Associations with Academic Success, Well-Being, and Individuation

Guided by the developmental theory of emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2004) and life course theory (Elder, 1984), the goals of the current study were to investigate changes in parent involvement, changes in student outcomes, and links between changes in involvement and student outcomes across the first year in college. Parental involvement was defined as a multidimensional construct that included parent support, contact, and academic engagement. Purdue University domestic freshmen (N = 1279; 55% female; 84% Caucasian) participated in this study that included four online surveys that were evenly distributed across the first year. Through this design and the use of latent growth curve modeling (LGM) in Mplus (Muthén & Muthén, 2010), the current study estimated trajectories (intercepts, linear slopes, and quadratic slopes) of parent involvement, student outcomes, and their joint associations. Fixed and random effects were examined to determine intraindividual and interindividual change. Joint association models involved regressing the student outcome slopes onto the involvement slopes. Covariates were included (e.g., student sex), and fit indices were assessed to evaluate models (e.g., Confirmatory Fit Index). Overall results supported hypotheses, and indicated nonlinear declines in parent involvement, changes in student outcomes (exceptions: academic persistence and depression), and links between changes in involvement and student outcomes. Notable findings from joint models indicated increases in involvement were related to increases in depression, steeper increases in risky behaviors, and steeper decreases in individuation across freshman year. Findings contribute to literature on the characteristics of involvement during emerging adulthood and within the context of college, especially how changes in involvement are linked to changes in student outcomes, and offer practical guidance for college parent programming

The Delis-Kaplan Executive Functions System – Tower Test Resilience to Response Bias

Neuropsychological tools are used to gain more accurate insight about an individual’s level of functioning (cognitive, behavioral, executive, etc.), and to make more exact diagnoses; therefore, valid neuropsychological tools are necessary for precise evaluation. Valid neuropsychological assessment relies upon the individual putting forth maximum effort during testing. While the literature is rich when describing methods of detecting incomplete effort, it is sparse when identifying instruments resistant to such response bias. The goal of this study was to determine whether or not effort affects performance on the D-KEFS Tower Test by comparing the results with the Test of Memory Malingering (a neuropsychological assessment designed to measure effort). Thirty-nine neurologically intact college students from a medium sized Rocky Mountain university introductory subject pool were asked to participate. The participants in the experimental group were given a vignette explaining that they had been in a car accident. The participants were then asked to pretend that they had suffered a brain injury and were having memory problems. The participants in the control group were asked to do their best. A blind examiner administered the D-KEFS Tower Test and The Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) to both groups. Data analysis shows that there was a significant difference between the two groups’ performance on the TOMM, but no significant difference between the scores on the Tower Test. These results suggest that the D-KEFS Tower Test is relatively resilient to incomplete effort

Prognostic Nutritional Index: Its Usefulness as a Predictor of Clinical Course

It is of great consequence to be able to predict an individual\u27s risk of clinical complication during hospitalization. The Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI), which is based upon one\u27s nutritional status, is a method that has been developed for this purpose. The PNI equation is comprised of the following indicators of nutritional status: serum albumin level, serum transferrin level, triceps skinfold thickness, and delayed hypersensitivity. This study was designed to evaluate the usefulness of PNI in predicting clinical course. The sample was composed of 328 subjects who had been admitted to medical or surgical services of the Veterans Administration Medical Center, Johnson City, Tennessee. The criterion for inclusion in the study was complete nutritional assessment between 1978 and 1981. A PNI was calculated for each subject. Using a retrospective review of subjects\u27 medical records, extent and type of complications was determined. The measure of complication score used in the study could range from 0 - 28. The mean for the PNI was approximately 45%, indicating that, on average, the risk of clinical complications in this sample was 45% or in the intermediate (40-50%) category. This was the equivalent of a complication score of 8. There was a significant (p \u3c 0.05), positive correlation between PNI and complication score. A positive multiple correlation was found between complication score and the block of variables upon which PNI is based, specifically serum albumin level, serum transferrin level, triceps skinfold thickness, and delayed hypersensitivity. These results support a direct relationship between nutritional status and clinical course. This provides documentation for the usefulness of PNI as a technique for predicting clinical complications based upon nutritional assessment

Sedimentology of the ~3.3 Ga upper Mendon Formation, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa

The Mendon Formation is the uppermost unit of the 3.5-3.26 Ga Onverwacht Group in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa. It consists of a cyclic stack of komatiitic volcanic units separated by thin cherty sedimentary layers. In most areas, the uppermost Mendon Formation is a sedimentary interval characterized by black chert, banded black-and-white chert, and banded ferruginous chert, although the detailed patterns of lithofacies in different sections are more complex. Previously reported zircon U/Pb ages suggest that Mendon deposition could represent more than 70 Myr of time between ∼3,334 Ma and ∼3,260 Ma. This study presents sedimentological and petrographic observations of the upper Mendon Formation from across the central part of the Barberton Greenstone Belt in order to investigate sediment sources, depositional processes, and environments of sedimentation. The dominant mode of sedimentation was quiet settling of carbonaceous grains and, in the deepest sections below storm wave base, fine ferruginous material, resulting in finely laminated black and grey chert. In situ carbonaceous laminations are rare, suggesting that benthic microbial mat growth had little direct influence on deposition. The hemipelagic background deposition was punctuated by occasional inputs of fine pyroclastic debris, formation and deposition of silica granules, and reworking by infrequent storm events. Storm deposits are represented by coarse-grained, poorly-sorted intraclast breccias, some of which include distinctive intraclasts sampling lithofacies that are not observed in situ. Despite considerable lateral variability, correlative temporal trends are resolvable in many Mendon sections: there is an upward-deepening of the overall depositional setting recorded in the oldest upper Mendon sections, consistent with the previous interpretation that Mendon time was characterized by rifting ( Lowe, 1994a; Lowe, 1999a). Younger Mendon cycles include thick, relatively ferruginous basal sections, interpreted to reflect the deepest water deposition. These sections are capped by black chert and silicified ashes with more evidence of disturbance and reworking by storms, reflecting gradual shoaling. This sedimentological analysis is broadly consistent with previous geochemical and tectonic analyses and provides a better picture of depositional patterns during uppermost Onverwacht time, before the distinct change in tectonic regime marked by impact spherule layer S2 and the onset of Fig Tree Group orogenesis and related siliciclastic deposition

Rewriting the History of the Native Mounted Police in Queensland

The Archaeology of the Native Mounted Police in Queensland project, jointly led by Nulungu research fellow Dr Lynley Wallis, is a long-overdue exploration into the nature of frontier invasion. Several of our team members have worked in Queensland for many decades and, in every Aboriginal community in which we’ve worked, stories are told about the ‘killing times’ or the ‘war’, as community members call the period when the Native Mounted Police (NMP, also referred to as the ‘Native Police’) were operating. Many community members have asked us over the years to record their stories about the massacres that took place, or have shown us places associated with the police camps or the massacre sites, and often told us that they would like to know more about what happened. These requests eventually led to the archaeologists on this project coming together, talking with key Aboriginal people and communities, and developing a research project to address their interests — the project described in this paper is the result.https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/nulungu_insights/1000/thumbnail.jp

OS DIÁLOGOS DE GRANDE SERTÃO: VEREDAS

Estudos prévios de Grande Sertão: Veredas não demoram na investigação da natureza e função do diálogo no romance. Este trabalho explora os vários níveis de diálogo que sustentam o diálogo maior entre Riobaldo e o visitante da cidade. Outros interlocutores do personagem principal incluem Diadorim, Zé Bebelo, e Compadre Quelemém. O Riobaldo mantém relaçõesdialéticas complementares com a Juventude, a Velhice, a  Natureza, o Sertão e o Jagunço.O diálogo em Grande Sertão: Veredas é um mecanismo estilístico quereforça a ressonância poética do romance. A sua importância principal resJa, porém, na sua função de condutor ao auto-descobrimento metafísico. Neste sentido, os diálogos principais do romance representam um relacionamento professor-aluno, óbvio nas conversas entre Riobaldo e o visitante da cidade,Zé Bebelo e Compadre Quelemém. O questionamento dialético e metafísico completa um círculo no fim do romance quando as perguntas do Riobaldo sc repitam com maior intensidade e com menos esperança de respostas que lhe darão paz de espírito. Nesta altura, o Riobaldo está livre para morrer, e a sua busca assume proporções míticas