ADVANCES IN GROUPER AQUACULTURE

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

BEYOND ACCESS TOWARDS SUCCESS FOR FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS OF UNDERREPRESENTED ETHNIC BACKGROUNDS: THE ROLE OF COLLEGE ADJUSTMENT AND PERCEIVED STRESSORS ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT DURING THE FIRST YEAR

The current study explored the first year college transition between traditional and underrepresented student groups (ethnic minorities and first-generation college students; N = 500; M age = 18.34) at a diverse institution, comparing GPA and college adjustment over time. Using Tinto’s retention model (1975), the aim of the current study explored whether social and academic adjustment differences would explain any gap in academic achievement among underrepresented students groups. Results indicated that first-generation college students (FGC) of minority ethnic backgrounds reported significantly lower GPA scores, and had lower adjustment subscale scores compared to all other student groups by the end of the 1st year in college. However, SEM results indicated that social adjustment at Time 1 did not mediate the relationship between student background (ethnicity/first-generation college status) and GPA scores at Time 2. These results suggest that Tinto’s retention model may not be relevant for students from underrepresented backgrounds, as there may be additional obstacles that impact their academic achievement and retention beyond college adjustment. Brief qualitative analyses found that FGC students from ethnic minority backgrounds perceived multiple academic stressors, including academic barriers, lack of funding, off-campus responsibilities, and negative experiences with campus personnel. Areas for further research, limitations, and implications for higher education and community psychology are discussed

The impact of education and resources on postpartum depression screening and referral in pediatric primary care.

Background: Postpartum depression (PPD) is recognized as one of the most common complications following childbirth. Despite evidence-based recommendations to screen for postpartum depression in pediatric primary care, screening rates during well-child visits remain at less than 50%. Pediatric providers have consistently identified barriers to screening mothers for PPD. Methods: A multifaceted educational intervention was implemented that focused on screening for PPD during well-child visits and oriented providers to resources and a local referral process for mothers who screened positive. A pretest-posttest design was used to measure provider knowledge, confidence, and awareness in screening, utilizing available resources and a local referral process created by the DNP student (project leader). A separate education session was held for pediatric staff (registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and medical assistants (MAs)). Following the education sessions, screening for PPD using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was incorporated into well-child visits between 1 month and 6 months of age. A post-survey evaluation was given to pediatric staff at the end of the project to elicit information on screening implementation. Results: A paired t-test was conducted and determined a significant increase in provider knowledge confidence, and awareness in PPD screening from pretest to posttest. Following implementation of the (EPDS), 75% of women who attended well-child visits between the ages of 1 and 6 months were screened for PPD. Summary: A multifaceted educational intervention demonstrated improvements in provider’s knowledge, confidence and awareness. PPD screening rates increase when providers are given appropriate education and resources

Identification and Integration Within Campus Life Among First-Generation U.S. Citizens: An Exploration of Campus Climate Perception

The current study explored the relationships within a higher education institution between innovative and inclusive mission-identity perceptions and school sense of community among first-generation U.S. citizens and first-generation college students, with varying racial backgrounds. During Fall 2012, a total of 4,492 participants at a large, urban, and Catholic university completed the Innovative and Inclusive (I/I) subscale from the DePaul Mission and Values Inventory as well as the School Sense of Community (SSOC) scale. Two 2 x 2 x 5 ANCOVAS were run to determine whether there were any differences across generation statuses and racial background for both measures. Additionally, regression analyses were run to determine whether students’ perceptions of the campus mission as innovative and inclusive predicted students’ scores on the school sense of community scale. Results found that Caucasian students reported a stronger school sense of community, whereas Hispanic students reported stronger mission-identity perceptions. Furthermore, generational statuses significantly interacted for SSOC, whereas first-generation college students perceived higher I/I perceptions compared to non-first-generation college students. Moreover, students’ perceptions of I/I significantly predicted students’ SSOC scores. Implications for Community Psychology and higher education policy are discussed

A Contribution to the Critique of Labor Share Analyses

According to this analysis, the frequently reported narrative about the success of neoliberalism, in terms of redistributing the pie in favor of capital vis-à-vis labor is not supported by data for the first thirty-eight years of neoliberalism. In this dissertation I disaggregate the variation in labor’s share of GDP according to movements in depreciation and the labor shares of various organizational forms namely, corporations, government, nonprofit institutions, proprietorships and private households. Of all of these organizational forms, only the net domestic income of the corporate sector is divisible between profit and compensation. Nevertheless, depreciation, private households, and proprietorships (when the labor income of proprietors is estimated according to the national average of wage and salary workers) have had a significant impact on the trajectory of labor’s share of GDP. The inclusion of proprietors’ estimated labor income (estimated according to the average compensation of wage and salary workers), private households, and depreciation fully explain the decline in labor’ share of GDP during the neoliberal run up to the 2008 Great Recession. When proprietor labor income is not estimated, the decline in labor’s share of GDP is fully attributable to private households and depreciation. Labor’s share of corporations’ net output was trendless over the same period. Finally, this study moves from the aggregate to the sectoral level to investigate the factors that are responsible for the decline in the labor share in manufacturing. While manufacturing has undoubtedly experienced substantial declines in union density in recent decades, the evidence suggests that this decline did not contribute to the decline in labor’s share in the manufacturing sector. Compensation per manufacturing worker rose and by a greater magnitude than compensation per worker in the private sector as a whole. Labor’s falling share in manufacturing, then, was due to a substantial increase in output relative to employment. This dissertation suggests that the fall in the labor share in manufacturing had more to do with technical change that led to sectoral shifts in labor demand

The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas: Rethinking Economic Integration After the Failures of Neoliberalism

The deteriorating societal conditions that have accompanied the implementation of the neoliberal model in Latin America have been well documented. This analysis draws heavily on this work to identify the emergence of de-industrialization, displacement of food production, exclusion of basic human services, and excessive unemployment following the application of neoliberal reform. Such ill effects have ushered in a strong anti-neoliberal current that has opened up new spaces for discussion and debate about alternative development models for the region. Perhaps the most radical alternative to emerge is the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). ALBA’s architects have been explicit in their denunciation of neoliberalism and insist that ALBA is an alternative that has been designed to rectify the ills associated with neoliberal reform. The following analysis examines ALBA as an alternative idea and practice of development. The following analysis examines the ways in which ALBA is formulated as an abstract alternative to neoliberalism and highlights the concrete policies and projects that distinguish it from the defining aspects of the neoliberal model