A Mixed Methods Study of the Causes of Chronic Absenteeism in a Large, Urban High School

Failing to graduate from high school can be related to problems during adulthood, individually for students who drop out and collectively on communities and the nation as a whole (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012; Balfanz, Herzog, & MacIver, 2007; Orfield, 2004; Providence Public, 2012). Two factors, attendance and self-efficacy, have been linked to academic achievement and graduation rates and were the focus of this study. Recent studies suggest a strong relationship between students’ attendance rates and graduation rates. A study of 9th graders in Chicago found that students with satisfactory attendance graduate at a higher rate than those with chronic absenteeism. Many interventions aimed at decreasing student absenteeism fail to address the needs of students who are chronically absent as they do not consider the role of student selfefficacy and the stated reasons why students miss school. The purpose of this mixed methods research study was to determine if a relationship exists between academic self-efficacy and rates of absenteeism and also to determine what students report as the causes of their absenteeism. An academic self-efficacy scale was administered to 9th grade students (N=99) to determine if a relationship exists between academic self-efficacy and rates of absenteeism. Focus groups were conducted with 9th grade students (N=17) who were chronically absent during the first half of the 2014-2015 school year in order to identify the reasons that high school students report they are chronically absent. Two of the student survey items were found to be significantly correlated with rates of absenteeism. The concept of persistence (r=.183, r 2=.03, p=.040, small/medium effect size) and meeting the expectations of others (r=.220, r 2=.05, p=.019, small/medium effect size) were positively related to higher absentee rates. No significant correlations were found for any of the dimensions or remaining items on the survey. The focus group findings indicated that students understand the connection between attending school and future success and that lack of parental encouragement, teacher support and follow-up and disengaging classes cause students to miss school. Results of the current study will help school, district and national educational leaders develop appropriate interventions to reduce student chronic absenteeis

Aeromedical Issues in Diabetic Aviators

Diabetes mellitus is a common disease that poses a serious health and safety threat to civilian aviators. Complications secondary to diabetes can be severe and result in sudden incapacitation. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has developed regulations for certifying aviators with diabetes, as well as guidelines for in-flight management of blood glucose levels. Advances in medical technology have led to treatments and countermeasures for diabetes that enable many individuals to engage in physically and mentally demanding activities. This paper presents a basic overview of the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of diabetes mellitus in civil aviators. In addition, current FAA regulations for medical certification and blood glucose management will be outlined

Co-creating an Open Government Data Driven Public Service: The Case of Chicago’s Food Inspection Forecasting Model

Large amounts of Open Government Data (OGD) have become available and co-created public services have started to emerge, but there is only limited empirical material available on co-created OGD-driven public services. To address this shortcoming and explore the concept of co-created OGD-driven public services the authors conducted an exploratory case study. The case study explored Chicago’s use of OGD in the co-creation of a predictive analytics model that forecasts critical safety violations at food serving establishments. The results of this exploratory work allowed for new insights to be gained on co-created OGD-driven public services and led to the identification of six factors that seem to play a key role in allowing for a OGD-driven public service to be co-created. The results of the initial work also provide valuable new information that can be used to aid in the development and improvement of the authors’ conceptual model for understanding co-created OGD-driven public service

Is Government Welfare Able to Change? Analysing Efforts to Co-create an Improved Social Welfare System through Taking Advantage of a Collaborative Economy

Welfare sectors across the world are facing the need to balance the contrast between economic pressures due to demographic changes and peoples’ rising expectations of receiving services that are transparent; timely and tailored to citizens’ habits and needs. This means that governments are pressured to look for new ways to deliver public services. This article looks at two co-created peer-to-peer platforms that are engaged in delivering public services in the welfare sector, Helpific and Caremate, and their development and role in the Estonian welfare sector. These platforms appear to hold substantial potential for changing the current system of delivering public services, however they have not yet managed to acquire the anticipated level of success. By examining these two cases, it is proposed that the room and support for developing new solutions, using experience in the field and overcoming the digital divide must be assured in order to make changes in government welfare possible

Guidelines for writing applied case studies in sport and exercise psychology

While there has been a significant expansion of continued professional development opportunities in recent years, there has often, historically, been a reluctance for sport and exercise psychologists to both share, and receive feedback on their professional practice (Cotterill, Weston and Breslin, 2016). The recent development of the new Case Studies in Sport and Exercise Psychology journal, a flagship journal of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, supports an increasing appetite for this type of dissemination. Building upon these recent developments this paper draws on the experience of several experienced practitioners, who are also supervisors, assessors and journal editors in applied sport and exercise psychology. Guidelines for the preparation of applied case studies are offered as an aid for practitioners who are seeking to both publicise and share their work, and/or contribute to the literature and current knowledge in this area. We argue that the voices of practitioners represent an important component of any scientific literature, and we encourage practitioners to both share their work; reflect on the effectiveness of different approaches and techniques, and engage in the ongoing debate that characterizes scientific progress. In this way, we seek to help address the criticism that literature in sport and exercise psychology is too theoretically focused, and not representative of the 'real-world'. We seek to help close the research-practice 'gap'.Aunque ha habido una expansión significativa de las oportunidades de desarrollo profesional continuado en los últimos años, históricamente ha habido una renuencia de los psicólogos del deporte y del ejercicio a compartir y recibir sugerencias y comentarios sobre su práctica profesional (Cotterill et al., 2016). El reciente desarrollo de la nueva revista de Estudios de Casos en el Deporte y la Psicología del Ejercicio, una revista emblemática de la Asociación de Psicología del Deporte Aplicado, apoya el creciente interés por este tipo de difusión entre profesionales. Basándose en estos recientes desarrollos, este trabajo se basa en la experiencia de varios profesionales experimentados, que también son supervisores de estudiantes, asesores y editores de revistas en el deporte aplicado y la psicología del ejercicio. Las guías para la preparación de estudios de casos aplicados se ofrecen como una ayuda para los profesionales que buscan publicar y compartir su trabajo y / o contribuir a la literatura y el conocimiento actual en esta área. Parecería que las voces de los practicantes representan un componente importante de cualquier literatura científica, y animamos a los practicantes a compartir su trabajo; Reflexionar sobre la eficacia de los diferentes enfoques y técnicas y participar en el debate actual que caracteriza el progreso científico. De esta manera, tratamos de ayudar a abordar la crítica de que la literatura en el deporte y la psicología del ejercicio es demasiado teórica, y no representativo del "mundo real". Buscamos ayudar a cerrar la "brecha" entre la investigación y la práctica

Conceptual Design of a Combat Search and Rescue Surveillance Unmanned Aerial Aircraft

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are becoming more efficient and widely used. The military uses UAV’s because it greatly reduces civilian and combatant deaths and injuries. UAV’s also are used in search and rescue mission to find distress civilians. The team wanted to create an UAV for search and rescue missions and military applications. The aircraft needed to be compact, perform better than other UAV’s, and be low cost. The team did reach a successful aircraft that meet the design requirements. The aircraft was successfully sized around the electronics and allows utilization of additive manufacturing techniques. Project management techniques showed that with utilization of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) chart, the team managed to specifically outline the scope of the project with very limited time

Quantification of the effect of instrumentation error in objective gait assessment in the horse on hindlimb symmetry parameters

BACKGROUND: Objective gait analysis is becoming more popular as a tool assisting veterinarians during the clinical lameness exam. At present, there is only limited information on the effect of misplacement of markers/motion-sensors. OBJECTIVES: To investigate and describe the effect of marker misplacement on commonly calculated pelvic symmetry parameters. STUDY DESIGN: Experimental study. METHODS: Each horse was equipped with custom-made devices consisting of several reflective markers arranged in a predefined manner with a reference marker correctly positioned regarding the anatomical landmark and several misplaced markers along the sagittal and transverse planes. Linear regression analysis was used to estimate the effect of marker misplacement. RESULTS: For the tubera sacrale, each cm of left/right misplacement led to a difference in minimum position of the pelvis (PDmin) of ±1.67 mm (95% CI 1.54-1.8 mm) (P<0.001); maximum position of the pelvis (PDmax) was affected by ±0.2 mm (95% CI 0.071-0.33 mm) (P = 0.003). With respect to cranial/caudal misplacement, each cm of misplacement resulted in a PDmin difference of ±0.04 mm (95% CI -0.09 to 0.16 mm) (P = 0.56) and a PDmax difference of ±0.008 mm (95% CI -0.13 to 0.12 mm) (P = 0.9). For the tubera coxae, each cm of vertical misplacement led to a difference in the displacement amplitude between left and right tubera coxae (Hip-Hike_Diff) of ±1.56 mm (95% CI 1.35-1.77 mm) (P<0.001); for the cranial/caudal misplacement, this was ±0.82 mm (95% CI 0.66-0.97 mm) (P<0.001). MAIN LIMITATIONS: Only three horses were used in this experiment and the study design did not permit to determine the influence of marker misplacement on the evaluation of different degrees of lameness. CONCLUSIONS: Marker misplacement significantly affects calculated symmetry parameters of the pelvis. The observed errors are overall small but significant. In cases of mildly asymmetrical horses, this error might influence the decision-making process whereas in more severe asymmetries, the influence of the error effect may become less significant