Does KEES Help Retain High-Performing Students In-State for Higher Education?

Kentucky’s merit-based program, the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES), started in 1998 providing financial assistance to students attending higher education in-state based on high school academic achievements. The intended goal of KEES is elusive, however two key objectives are often mentioned with KEES. These are incentivizing and rewarding high school academic achievement and keeping high-performing students in Kentucky for their college education. This study aims to investigate whether Kentucky’s merit-based program keeps high-performing students in Kentucky for higher education. The dataset available for this research was provided by the Kentucky Center for Education and Workforce Statistics from their high school feedback reports. The aggregate data are comprised of the three recent academic school years and all data are at the school level. An ordinal least squares regression was used to determine the relationship between the percent of high-performing Kentucky high school graduates from each public high school attending college out-of-state with other academic and demographic variables from each high school. Results from this study showed that there is a very weak correlation between KEES and the out-of-state going rate suggesting the KEES program may not have an impact on students going to school out-of-state. However, the study showed that KEES money has more influence for high schools located in non-Appalachia for their out-of-state college going rate compared to high schools located in Appalachia in Kentucky. Lastly, the results also indicated that students from schools with a high percentage of participants in the free and reduced lunch program are less likely to attend higher education either in-state or out-of-state

The use of mixed methods to advance positive psychology: A methodological review

A call for diverse research approaches in positive psychology by the International Positive Psychology Association (2015) and the Journal of Positive Psychology (2017) challenged psychology researchers to consider methodology outside traditional quantitative methods. The purpose of this methodological review was to examine the use of mixed methods approaches in empirical studies in positive psychology. The review identified 56 positive psychology articles published between 2010 and 2019 that used a mixed methods approach. To our knowledge, this is the first review of mixed methods methodology in the field of positive psychology. The small number of published articles in that period indicate mixed methods is either not currently a widely used methodology in the field or it is being used without identifying terminology. Those studies using mixed methods often used positive psychology to inform an intervention in the quantitative strand and gathered interviews within the qualitative strand. Opportunities for growth for positive psychology researchers include interpreting data in mixed methods style and strengthening the identification of key features of the approach in the text

The Influence of pH Variation on CooA Activity

CooA, a CO-sensing heme protein, acts as a transcriptional activator of CO-metabolizing proteins in bacteria such as Rhodospirillum rubrum and Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans through sequence-specific DNA binding. Previous research indicated a reduced iron center and CO gas were necessary for CooA to achieve its active conformation and bind DNA. To determine if other reaction conditions facilitate CooA activation, the role of pH on CooA function was tested. Specifically, a fluorescence anisotropy assay was employed to measure possible Fe(III) CooA DNA binding from pH 3 - 12. Interestingly, CooA was observed to bind DNA without CO at acidic conditions, with optimal binding observed at pH ~3. These results are discussed in light of the normal CO-dependent activation mechanism of CooA proteins

Gendered pedagogy in senior secondary physical education curriculum enactment

Arnold’s dimensions of movement (1979) and Wilcox’s embodied ways of knowing (2009) informed case study research which explored the influence of gender(ed) movement-based pedagogy and associated equity issues in Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) Physical Education (PE). VCE PE teachers from three schools provided documentation (course, unit, lesson plans, resources, assessment materials) and semi-structured interviews to investigate how teachers used movement and the role gender plays in influencing decisions and approaches relating to movement-based pedagogy. Gender discourses were evident in teachers’ decisions regarding the types of movement experiences included in VCE PE, pedagogical approaches and assessment contexts. Issues of safety were linked to gendered assumptions about learners. Movement is a central tenet of senior secondary PE, yet movement-based pedagogy needs to be more responsive to the needs of all students to ensure equity in students’ movement and learning experiences and to positively reflect gender diversity of student cohorts

Cholesteatoma and family history: An international survey

Objective To explore the relative frequency of a family history of cholesteatoma in patients with known cholesteatoma, and whether bilateral disease or earlier diagnosis is more likely in those with a family history. Associations between cleft lip or palate and bilateral disease and age of diagnosis were also explored. Design An online survey of patients with diagnosed cholesteatoma was conducted between October 2017 and April 2019. Participants The sample consisted of patients recruited from two UK clinics and self‐selected respondents recruited internationally via social media. Main outcome measures Side of cholesteatoma, whether respondents had any family history of cholesteatoma, age of diagnosis and personal or family history of cleft lip or palate were recorded. Results Of 857 respondents, 89 (10.4%) reported a positive family history of cholesteatoma. Respondents with a family history of cholesteatoma were more likely to have bilateral cholesteatoma (P = .001, odds ratio (OR) 2.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.35‐3.43), but there was no difference in the age of diagnosis (P = .23). Those with a history of cleft lip or palate were not more likely to have bilateral disease (P = .051, OR 2.71, CI 1.00‐7.38), and there was no difference in age of diagnosis (P = .11). Conclusion The relatively high proportion of respondents that reported a family history of cholesteatoma offers supporting evidence of heritability in cholesteatoma. The use of social media to recruit respondents to this survey means that the results cannot be generalised to other populations with cholesteatoma. Further population‐based research is suggested to determine the heritability of cholesteatoma

Using self-reports of pain and other variables to distinguish between older women with back pain due to vertebral fractures and those with back pain due to degenerative changes

SUMMARY: Women with back pain and vertebral fractures describe different pain experiences than women without vertebral fractures, particularly a shorter duration of back pain, crushing pain and pain that improves on lying down. This suggests a questionnaire could be developed to identify older women who may have osteoporotic vertebral fractures. INTRODUCTION: Approximately 12 % of postmenopausal women have vertebral fractures (VFs), but less than a third come to clinical attention. Distinguishing back pain likely to relate to VF from other types of back pain may ensure appropriate diagnostic radiographs, leading to treatment initiation. This study investigated whether characteristics of back pain in women with VF are different from those in women with no VFs. METHODS: A case control study was undertaken with women aged ≥60 years who had undergone thoracic spinal radiograph in the previous 3 months. Cases were defined as those with VFs identified using the algorithm-based qualitative (ABQ) method. Six hundred eighty-three potential participants were approached. Data were collected by self-completed questionnaire including the McGill Pain Questionnaire. Chi-squared tests assessed univariable associations; logistic regression identified independent predictors of VFs. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the ability of the combined independent predictors to differentiate between women with and without VFs via area under the curve (AUC) statistics. RESULTS: One hundred ninety-seven women participated: 64 cases and 133 controls. Radiographs of controls were more likely to show moderate/severe degenerative change than cases (54.1 vs 29.7 %, P = 0.011). Independent predictors of VF were older age, history of previous fracture, shorter duration of back pain, pain described as crushing, pain improving on lying down and pain not spreading down the legs. AUC for combination of these factors was 0.85 (95 % CI 0.79 to 0.92). CONCLUSION: We present the first evidence that back pain experienced by women with osteoporotic VF is different to back pain related solely to degenerative change

Synthesis of unsaturated polyester resins from various bio-derived platform molecules

Utilisation of bio-derived platform molecules in polymer synthesis has advantages which are, broadly, twofold; to digress from crude oil dependence of the polymer industry and secondly to reduce the environmental impact of the polymer synthesis through the inherent functionality of the bio-derived platform molecules. Bulk polymerisation of bio-derived unsaturated di-acids has been employed to produce unsaturated polyester (UPEs) which have been analysed by GPC, TGA, DSC and NMR spectroscopy, advancing on the analysis previously reported. UPEs from the diesters of itaconic, succinic, and fumaric acids were successfully synthesised with various diols and polyols to afford resins of MN 480-477,000 and Tg of -30.1 to -16.6 °C with solubilities differing based on starting monomers. This range of properties allows for many applications and importantly due to the surviving Michael acceptor moieties, solubility and cross-linking can be specifically tailored, post polymerisation, to the desired function. An improved synthesis of itaconate and succinate co-polymers, via the initial formation of an itaconate bis-diol, is also demonstrated for the first time, resulting in significantly improved itaconate incorporation

Mapping the Guide: Using Concept Maps to Ease Resource Guide Design

Concept maps not only provide a more organized approach to resource guide creation; they also can result in more improved and effective guide design. As laid out in Novak and Canas (2006), concept maps provide opportunities for meaningful learning, “...the assimilation of new concepts and prepositions into existing concept and prepositional frameworks held by the learner”. The top-down, hierarchical structure of concept maps translates well into the tabular and boxed-based content structure of resource guide, allowing for the learning benefits inherent in concept maps to be passed on to a guide. A well-constructed guide based on concept maps will lead to an improved learning experience for users, especially in the context of class-based guides. Users will be able to start at a tab which should correspond to a general/basic term or idea in a particular subject in which they are familiar, and then explore first boxes and then sub-tabs on more and more specific topics, learning through context as they go along. The end result is a user who comes away from the guide having learning a bit more about a topic and who is able to easily tie that new information to preexisting knowledge