Cohort Analysis

Across the United States, community colleges offer millions of students an open-access, low-cost postsecondary education. However, of the students who enroll in community college hoping to earn a credential or transfer to a four-year institution, only about half achieve their goal within six years. For students who enter college needing developmental (remedial) education in reading, writing, or math, this rate is even lower. Learning communities, in which cohorts of students enroll in two or more linked courses together, are often employed to improve these students' success. In addition to linking courses, learning communities often incorporate other components, such as faculty collaboration, shared assignments and curricula, and connections to student support services.

Objecti®e: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravaginal misoprostol for labor induction. Methods: 110 singleton term pregnancies with or without rupture of membranes were enrolled. Fraction-Ž. ated doses of misoprostol were applied 50᎐100 g , every 6 h until a maximum of three doses or beginning of labor. Ž. Results: The average interval "S.D. from vaginal application to the beginning of active labor and to delivery were, Ž. respectively, 9.5" 5.7 h and 14.8" 9.5 h. Failed labor induction was observed in two cases 2%. Cesarean section rate was 14%. The incidence of tachysystole was 18% and hypersystole 4%, but these situations were associated with Ž. abnormal fetal heart rate pattern hyperstimulation in only 3%. No maternal side effects and neonatal adverse effects were noted. Conclusions: Intravaginal misoprostol administration with low doses is an effective and safe method for labor induction in term pregnancies, with or without rupture of membranes.

Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is a hands-on, project-based engineering curriculum for high school and middle school students, which has quadrupled annual enrollment in Texas in five years to over 23,000 students. The diversity of students participating has also increased dramatically. Using six years of longitudinally-linked student data, the academic outcomes of cohorts of PLTW students were compared to matched cohorts of non-PLTW students. Matching was based on Grade 8 state math assessment scores and demographic and program participation variables. Findings show that PLTW students scored significantly higher on the state's Grade 11 mathematics assessment, a higher percentage met the college-ready criterion, a higher percentage enrolled in Texas higher education institutions, and the non-college-bound PLTW students earned higher wages.

In a flexible language learning system, developed at a French university and gradually improved through Action Research, different elements are combined: individual work on a virtual learning environment (VLE), pair-work and counselling appointments. One of the objectives of the system is to help the students involved progress towards autonomy-defined as "the ability to take charge of one's own learning" (Holec 1981: 3) or "as the capacity to take control over one's own learning" (Benson 2001: 2)-in their learning of English. The implementation of the system involves a new conception of the different actors' roles. Teachers become tutors, or counsellors, as defined by CRAPEL (Gremmo, 1995; Ciekanski, 2005) with new specific pedagogical goals (Bertin, Gravé & Narcy-Combes, 2010) and the learners have a new role to play. The introduction of two new guidance tools over the last years-a logbook, and specific sections in the existing forum of the VLE-were meant to help the students develop a reflexive approach and thus enhance autonomization, or developing learners' capacity to learn (Holec 1990: 77), and, in a second time, to promote the development of collaborative learning strategies and encourage the students to use strategies which they would not primarily have thought of. The guidance tools used in this specific language learning environment such as the counselling appointments, the logbook, and the forum, may influence the roles played by the different actors, but also the representations they have of their own roles, which may have an impact on their motivation and thus on the autonomization process (Dickinson, 1995). From the creation of the flexible system five years ago, the research has studied a population of 610 students through quantitative and qualitative analyses (Chateau, 2008; Chateau & Zumbihl, 2010). Focusing on the results obtained with the last population of students, the paper discusses the differences between them and the previous populations, and in particular whether the evolution of the roles played by the different actors, as compared with traditional language teaching/learning situations, has been enhanced.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease that is a major public health problem worldwide. In 2004, the Pediatric Dengue Cohort Study was established in Managua, Nicaragua, to study the natural history and transmission of dengue in children. Here, the authors describe the study design, methods, and results from 2004 to 2008. Initially, 3,721 children 2-9 years of age were recruited through door-to-door visits. Each year, new children aged 2 years are enrolled in the study to maintain the age structure. Children are provided with medical care through the study, and data from each medical visit are recorded on systematic study forms. All participants presenting with suspected dengue or undifferentiated fever are tested for dengue by virologic, serologic, and molecular biologic assays. Yearly blood samples are collected to detect inapparent dengue virus infections. Numerous information and communications technologies are used to manage study data, track samples, and maintain quality control, including personal data assistants, barcodes, global information systems, and fingerprint scans. Close collaboration with the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health and use of almost entirely local staff are essential components for success. This study is providing critical data on the epidemiology and transmission of dengue in the Americas needed for future vaccine trials.

This study investigated prospective risk factors for increases in body dissatisfaction in adolescent girls and boys in the Eating Among Teens Project. At the time of first assessment (Time 1), participants were a cohort of early adolescent girls (N ϭ 440) and boys (N ϭ 366) and a cohort of middle adolescent girls (N ϭ 946) and boys (N ϭ 764). Participants were followed up 5 years later (Time 2). Potential prospective risk factors examined included body mass index, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, parent dieting environment, peer environment, and psychological factors. Predictors of Time 2 body dissatisfaction were Time 1 body dissatisfaction, body mass index, socioeconomic status, being African American, friend dieting and teasing, self-esteem, and depression. However, the profile of predictors differed across the samples.

. The life success indices are average annual income-to-poverty ratios, economic mobility, and number of years the youth lived in families whose incomes fell below official poverty thresholds, received Food Stamps, and received TANF/AFDC. Controlling for a variety of background and other factors in separate regression models for each life success measure, results show that youth who participated in preschool programs other than Head Start had higher average annual income-to-poverty ratios than nonpreschoolers. Bivariate findings corroborate previous research indicating that Head Starters are economically and behaviorally disadvantaged compared to both other preschool and non-preschool children. Multivariate findings of this study also show that Head Starters do as well as nonpreschoolers in regard to the four other life success measures. In essence, on these measures Head Starters become mainstreamed by the time they enter the labor force, start their own families, and form their own households, such that they fare no better or worse than other preschoolers and nonpreschoolers in regard to economic mobility, years lived in poor families, and receipt of Food Stamps and TANF/AFDC. Findings support continued funding of Head Start but also suggest that higher levels of funding may be necessary to raise family incomes above poverty comparable to other preschool programs. This study examines long-term effects of preschool intervention programs on a U.S. cohort of youth. Controlling for a variety of background, early childhood, sociodemographic, human capital, structural, and other factors, the author seeks to determine how those who participated in Head Start and other preschool

This article shows how the cognitive mobilization index, designed for use in observing potential political participation, can be used as an indicator of the political climate that a particular society is going through. Following a discussion of the theoretical elaborations (and their working definitions) of the concept of cognitive mobilization, a longitudinal study of various European countries is used to consider the question of how political crises influence cognitive mobilization indexes and what effects they have on the political socialization process among the youngest cohorts.

The collection of dropout statistics is discussed from the perspective of the National Education L'dngitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). The NELS:88 follows a cohort of 1988 eighth graders over time and is Cesigned to provide trend data about transitions experienced as students progress through the educational system. Dropout statistics are provided for each year, for those who have not finished school at any given point and for the cohort as a whole. The concept of a dropout has been operationalized to distinguish those who are not enrolled in some alternative education. The ways in which the NELS:88 remedies weaknesses of the High School and Beyond study are reviewed, centering on the more pocu.ate estimates provided by confirmation from school enrollment and demographic data. Data from longitudinal cohort studies similar to the NELS:88 make more meaningful analysis of educational trends possible. Threi appendices provide supplemental information about survey methodology. (SLD)

This study investigated differences between attributional style and student adaptation to college for students with and without disabilities. In terms of attributional style, the students with disabilities demonstrated a more internal, stable, and global attributional style for both positive events and negative events. In terms of student adaptation to college, the group of students without disabilities scored higher for overall student adaptation to college, social adjustment, institutional attachment, and semester GPA. Additionally, we explored the ability of six variables to predict student adaptation to college for students with disabilities. Two variables contributed significantly to the prediction: self-advocacy skill and visibility of disability. College Attrition The transition to college can be diffi cult for many students as they face the challenges of adapting to their new environments. Prior research has suggested that feelings of isolation and loneliness, difficulty with separation from family, increased interpersonal confl icts, and fi nancial pressures are common during the fi rst few years of college, and if students cannot adjust they may be more likely to leave the university (

Mainstream publication discussions of differences in generational cohorts in the workplace suggest that individuals of more recent generations, such as Generation X and Y, have different work values than do individuals of the Silent and Baby Boom generations. Although extant research suggests that age may influence work values, few of the assertions about generation differences have been tested by empirical research. The present study investigated work values, as measured by the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire, across three generations (Silent Generation, N ¼ 371; Baby Boom, N ¼ 1179; and Generation X, N ¼ 139) while accounting for age. Results suggested that workers from the Silent Generation placed more importance on Status and Autonomy than did Baby Boom or Generation X workers. More recent generations (Baby Boom and Generation X) were found to place more importance on Working Conditions, Security, Coworkers, and Compensation. Additional analyses suggest that, while the measured differences among the three generations are small, generation influences work values more so than does age.

Romania's long-term economic sustainability and the long-term viability of the country's social protection system crucially depend on the success of Roma inclusion. The Romanian Roma is poor, vulnerable, and socially excluded, severely limiting opportunities to contribute to Romania's economic growth and shared prosperity. Even when important background characteristics are held constant, merely being a Roma remains a key determinant of living in poverty. Promoting Roma inclusion in Romania should be based on concerted efforts, following a dual-purpose approach comprising: (i) a comprehensive understanding of the dimensions of exclusion faced by Roma; and (ii) improving service delivery within each of, as well as across these dimensions. In an effort to streamline policy recommendations and to focus on the most effective areas of intervention, the main focus in this report is on three dimensions of exclusion: education, earning opportunities for families, and basic servic...

This study investigated prospective risk factors for increases in body dissatisfaction in adolescent girls and boys in the Eating Among Teens Project. At the time of first assessment (Time 1), participants were a cohort of early adolescent girls (N ϭ 440) and boys (N ϭ 366) and a cohort of middle adolescent girls (N ϭ 946) and boys (N ϭ 764). Participants were followed up 5 years later (Time 2). Potential prospective risk factors examined included body mass index, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, parent dieting environment, peer environment, and psychological factors. Predictors of Time 2 body dissatisfaction were Time 1 body dissatisfaction, body mass index, socioeconomic status, being African American, friend dieting and teasing, self-esteem, and depression. However, the profile of predictors differed across the samples.

Extant research, though limited in quantity, increasingly demonstrates the critical connection between quality preparation experience, candidates' leadership capacity, and their subsequent instructional and transformation leadership practices. Using mixed methods, this study builds on the current knowledge base and aims to further verify the link between program preparation and participant learning by examining the various program features and their effect on participant learning as measured by both candidates' self-reported preparedness in key leadership areas and their objective performance from NASSP's Assessment Center. Descriptive analyses indicated that the program in question was comparable to many exemplary preparation programs in terms of participants' perception in curriculum content quality and self-reported preparedness in key leadership areas. Correlation analyses resulted in a consistent positive relationship between cohort structure and participants' self-reported preparedness. NASSP's Assessment Center demonstrated less optimistic results in candidates' leadership skills. However, this did not seem to impact participants' overall positive experience with the program. Qualitative data, while confirming many of the exemplary features of the program (e.g., cohort, mentoring and coaching) demonstrated that quick and episodic changes that characterize many urban school districts seemed to exert a great influence on the consistent implementation of the program, in particular, in internship placement, one of the most important learning blocks in the studied program. The study calls for more systematic support from the district and more seamless collaborations among the partners.

Mathematics Recovery (MR) is designed to identify first graders who are struggling in mathematics and provide them with intensive one-to-one tutoring. We report findings from a 2-year evaluation of MR conducted in 20 elementary schools across five districts in two states. The design allowed for the estimation of the counterfactual growth trajectory based on those students THOMAS M. SMITH is an associate professor of public policy and education in the

This research proposes a new hybrid approach for feature selection and Support Vector Machine (SVM) model selection based on a new variation of Cohort Intelligence (CI) algorithm. Feature selection can improve the accuracy of classification algorithms and reduce their computation complexity by removing the irrelevant and redundant features. SVM is a classification algorithm that has been used in many areas , such as bioinformatics and pattern recognition. However, the classification accuracy of SVM depends mainly on tuning its hyperparameters (i.e., SVM model selection). This paper presents a framework that is comprised of the following two major components. First, Self-Adaptive Cohort Intelligence (SACI) algorithm is proposed, which is a new variation of the emerging metaheuristic algorithm, Cohort Intelligence (CI). Second, SACI is integrated with SVM resulting in a new hybrid approach referred to as SVM–SACI for simultaneous feature selection and SVM model selection. SACI differs from CI by employing tournament-based mutation and self-adaptive scheme for sampling interval and mutation rate. Furthermore, SACI is both real-coded and binary-coded, which makes it directly applicable to both binary and continuous domains. The performance of SACI for feature selection and SVM model selection was examined using ten benchmark datasets from the literature and compared with those of CI and five well-known metaheuris-tics, namely, Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Differential Evolution (DE) and Artificial Bee Colony (ABC). The comparative results demonstrate that SACI outperformed CI and comparable to or better than the other compared metaheuristics in terms of the SVM classification accuracy and dimensionality reduction. In addition, SACI requires less tuning effort s as the number of its control parameters is less than those of the other compared metaheuristics due to adopting the self-adaptive scheme in SACI. Finally, this research suggests employing more efficient methods for high-dimensional or large datasets due to the relatively high training time required by search strategies based on metaheuris-tics when applied to such datasets.

The objectification of women by society at large exists as a deeply-ingrained, millenia-long social norm, pervading nearly every area of prosaic life. Advertising employs objectification by way of pictorially defining the archetypal woman: who she is; what she is permitted to do; how she should feel; what clothing she should wear. By doing so, the marketing of women’s fashion has created an accepted standard definition of women. This case study of three women’s clothing firms – White House Black Market, Ann Taylor, and New York & Company – explores the potential shift in direction toward a modern form of objectification, that of objectification of women by women, versus objectification of women by men. These companies all state on their website’s info pages that they understand women, market as women to their women customers, and their clothing is intended to empower women. How do these firms redefine women’s purpose in life, in the family, in the career world? How has that purpose shifted from the mid-twentieth century? How have the items of clothing designed, relative to that new definition? How does women’s fashion now seek to positively objectify women toward the end of their empowerment and participation in society? What quantifiable data exist that seem to support the existence and potential success of this type of objectification in advertising women’s clothing to the segmented markets? Lastly, how can these – and other – firms who market women’s clothing further develop their strategies, store designs, and business practices to greater impact by way of competitive advantage? This paper seeks to explore these questions, to elucidate this new, modern form of objectification, and to substantiate its positive impact on women and on advertising.

Introduction-Continuous evaluation of child survival is needed in sub-Saharan Africa where HIV prevalence among women of reproductive age continues to be high. We examined mortality levels and trends over a period of ~20 years among HIV-unexposed and exposed children in Blantyre, Malawi. Methods-Data from five prospective cohort studies conducted at a single research site from 1989-2009 were analyzed. In these studies, children born to HIV-infected and uninfected mothers were enrolled at birth and followed longitudinally for at least two years. Information on sociodemographic, HIV infection status, survival and associated risk factors was collected in all studies. Mortality rates were estimated using birth-cohort analyses stratified by maternal and infant HIV status. Multivariate Cox regression models were used to determine risk factors associated with mortality. Results-The analysis included 8,286 children. From 1989-1995, overall mortality rates (per 100 person-years) in these clinic-based cohorts remained comparable among HIV-uninfected children born to HIV-uninfected mothers (range 3.3-6.9) or to HIV-infected mothers (range 2.5-7.5). From 1989-2009, overall mortality remained high among all children born to HIV-infected mothers (range 6.3-19.3), and among children who themselves became infected (range 15.6-57.4, 1994-2009). Only lower birth weight was consistently and significantly (P<0.05) associated with higher child mortality. Conclusions-HIV infection among mothers and children contributed to high levels of child mortality in the African setting in the pre-treatment era. In addition to services that prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, other programs are needed to improve child survival by lowering HIV-unrelated mortality through innovative interventions that strengthen health infrastructure.

Objective: To examine the social costs to women of skilled attendance at birth in rural Ghana. Method: Ethnographic data were obtained through participant observation, interviews, case histories, and focus groups and were analyzed alongside data from a birth cohort of 2878 singletons born in the Kintampo study district between July 2003 and June 2004. Results: Most women delivered at home. Home delivery raises a woman's status in her community, while seeking skilled attendance lowers it. Women feel that seeking assistance in childbirth wastes other people's time and they value secrecy in labor. Negative treatment by health providers and expensive supplies needed for delivery also act as barriers. Conclusion: The social costs of obtaining skilled attendance at birth must be offset by community level strategies such as mobilization of older women and husbands, and ensuring health providers extend professional, humane care to laboring women.

The paper is devoted to quantitative evaluation of the prevalence of the Old Belief in the Russian empire in the 19th – early 20th centuries. Methodology for updating the official population statistic of Old Believers in the Russian Empire is offered. The verified data on population dynamics of Old Believers is given on the provinces and regions of the Russian Empire and on the state at all. Historiographical thesis about more than tenfold belittling of the number of Old Believers in the official statistic materials of the Russian Empire is refuted. The regional differences in the scale of concealment of faith by Old Believers and in the level of falsification of their number by the State government bodies are detected.

Key words: Old Believers, statistics, cohort analysis, population census, demography, the Russian Empire

Статья посвящена количественной оценке распространённости старообрядчества в Российской империи XIX – начала ХХ вв. Предлагается методика, позволяющая уточнить данные официальной статистики о численности старообрядческого населения Российской империи. Приведены уточнённые данные о динамике численности старообрядцев по губерниях и областях Российской империи, а также по государству в целом. Опровергается распространённый в историографии тезис о более чем десятикратном приуменьшении численности староверов в материалах официальной статистики Российской империи. Выявлены региональные различия в масштабах сокрытия веры  старообрядцами, а также  уровне фальсифицированности данных об их численности органами государственной власти.

Ключевые слова: старообрядчество, статистика, когортный анализ, перепись, демография, Российская империя

The teaching of classical Greek dramas is integral to drama education at the University of Pretoria. In the past few years these dramas increasingly faced the danger of becoming ‘foreign’/irrelevant to modern day students. The introduction of performance practice to teach these dramas brought a whole new dimension to teaching and learning in the course. In this case study we describe how the once stagnant learning environment with the lecturer as sole distributor of knowledge, was reframed to allow for learner engagement and empowerment. We document the particular application of Heathcote’s ‘mantle of the expert ’ against three theories of educationally sound learning design. The nature of the learning that resulted is then described, based on an in-depth analysis of qualitative data gathered from two consecutive student cohorts. We conclude that this particular teaching approach not only brought the ancient texts to life, but also succeeded in empowering and motivating students res...

Using data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Study, this study analysed the stability of child aggressive behaviour beginning in infancy and tested whether spanking when the child was 36 months was associated with aggressive child behaviour among three ethnic groups and whether maternal warmth moderated the effect of spanking on aggressive behaviour in each ethnic group at 36 months, after controlling for earlier aggressive behaviour. Participants included 693 Hispanic parent-child dyads, 1013 African-American dyads and 1086 Caucasian dyads who met qualifications for participation in the Early Head Start programme. Findings suggest that infant temperament was associated with aggressive behaviour at 24 and 36 months and that child aggression remained stable. Among the three ethnic groups, spanking was only associated with aggressive behaviour for children who had Caucasian mothers and maternal warmth did not moderate the effect of spanking on aggressive behaviour.

Dengue hemorrhagic fever can occur in primary dengue virus (DENV) infection of infants. The decay of maternally derived DENV immunoglobulin (Ig) G and the incidence of DENV infection were determined in a prospectively studied cohort of 1244 Vietnamese infants. Higher concentrations of total IgG and DENVreactive IgG were found in cord plasma relative to maternal plasma. Maternally derived DENV-neutralizing and E protein-reactive IgG titers declined to below measurable levels in 190% of infants by 6 months of age. In contrast, IgG reactive with whole DENV virions persisted until 12 months of age in 20% of infants. Serological surveillance identified 10 infants with asymptomatic DENV infection for an incidence of 1.7 cases per 100 person-years. DENV-neutralizing antibodies remained measurable for у1 year after infection. These results suggest that whereas DENV infection in infants is frequently subclinical, there is a window between 4 and 12 months of age where virion-binding but nonneutralizing IgG could facilitate antibody-dependent enhancement.

No. 3 (mimeographed)] virtual population analysis (VPA) is commonly used for studying the dynamics of harvested fish populations. However, it necessitates the solving of a nonlinear equation for the instantaneous rate of fishing mortality of the fish in a population. Pope [Pope, J.G., 1972. An investigation of the accuracy of Virtual Population Analysis using cohort analysis. ICNAF Res. Bull. 9, 65-74. Also available in D.H. Cushing (ed.) (1983), Key Papers on Fish Populations, p. 291-301, IRL Press, Oxford, 405 p.] eliminated this necessity in his cohort analysis by approximating its underlying age-and time-dependent population model. His approximation has since become one of the most commonly used age-and time-dependent fish population models in fisheries science. However, some of its properties are not well understood. For example, many assert that it describes the dynamics of a fish population, from which the catch of fish is taken instantaneously in the middle of the year. Such an assertion has never been proven, nor has its implied instantaneous rate of fishing mortality of the fish of a particular age at a particular time been examined, nor has its implied catch equation been derived from a general catch equation. In this paper, we prove this assertion, examine its implied instantaneous rate of fishing mortality of the fish of a particular age at a particular time, derive its implied catch equation from a general catch equation, and comment on how to structure an age-and time-dependent population model to ensure its internal consistency. This work shows that Gulland's (1965) virtual population analysis and Pope's (1972) cohort analysis lie at the opposite end of a continuous spectrum as a general model for a seasonally occurring fishery; Pope's (1972) approximation implies an infinitely large instantaneous rate of fishing mortality of the fish of a particular age at a particular time in a fishing season of zero length; and its implied catch equation has an undefined instantaneous rate of fishing mortality of the fish in a population, but a well-defined cumulative instantaneous rate of fishing mortality of the fish in the population. This work also highlights a need for a more careful treatment of the times of start and end of a fishing season in fish population models.

Disinhibition due to alcohol may induce intimate partner violence and sexual coercion and increased risk of HIV infection. In a sample of 3,422 women aged 15-24 from the Rakai cohort, Uganda, we examined the association between self-reported alcohol use before sex, physical violence/sexual coercion in the past and prevalent HIV, using adjusted odds ratios (Adj OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). During the previous year, physical violence (26.9%) and sexual coercion (13.4%) were common, and alcohol use before sex was associated with a higher risk of physical violence/sexual coercion. HIV prevalence was significantly higher with alcohol consumption before sex (Adj OR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.06-1.98) and especially when women reported both prior sexual coercion and alcohol use before sex (Adj OR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.25-2.56). Alcohol use before sex was associated with physical violence and sexual coercion, and both are jointly associated with HIV infection risk in young women.

A new political cycle started with the 2012 regional elections in the Basque Country, after separatist armed organization ETA announced the end of their activity in 2011. In the middle of a major economic, social and political crisis in Spain, a new party, Podemos, came to light a year later, shaking up the whole Spanish party system and obtaining a remarkable electoral success in the Basque Country. While Podemos’ outbreak has brought attention in political science and sociology in recent years, and research on basque politics has mostly focused on nationalism, the link between these two features has not been studied yet. This research examines the impact of this new political party in a ‘polarized pluralism’ party system, divided by the left-right cleavage and the nationalist-centralist one. The research also provides an insight into Podemos’ electorate in a complex context, key in a multi-level political competition. Using public opinion surveys, the paper maps the main characteristics of the electorate, and examines the effects on this particular party system. We suggest that electoral behavior is changing as new generations of citizens, with a different attitude towards nationalism and the underlying political conflict, come to age of participating in politics. The memoir also discusses the role of identity issues in politics and the reshaping of the left-right cleavage in western European countries.

Data from the General Social Survey (GSS) collected in the years 1990 -1996 are examined for the relationship between fertility and intelligence as measured by vocabulary. The results show that the relation between fertility and intelligence has been consistently negative for successive birth cohorts from to 1900 to 1979, indicating the presence of dysgenic fertility for all of the 20th century studied thus far. The most recent cohort for which fertility can be regarded as complete is that born in the years 1940 -1949. In this cohort, the decline of genotypic intelligence arising from the negative association between intelligence and fertility is estimated at .90 IQ points per generation. The decline of genotypic intelligence of Whites is estimated at 0.75 IQ points a generation. D

In Australia there is no centrally administered nationwide assessment system for students who complete their final year (Year 12) of high school. Each state and territory uses its own Year 12 assessment system. Apart from Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory, all states and territories use externally set competitive examinations. The Queensland and Australian Capital Territory systems focus on continuous assessment that commences when students begin Year 11. Hence, policymakers at the state, territory and federal levels in Australia are debating over which of the Year 12 systems is superior, that is, an externally set competitive examination or a school/collegebased continuous assessment system? If one of the assessment systems is superior to the other, then it is expected that the superiority should be reflected by the students' subsequent academic performances at their tertiary-level studies. In this article we specifically addressed this issue and compared the academic performances of these two groups of students at an Australian university in their first year of a business degree. We found no difference in their academic performances in the subjects studied. The empirical evidence provided in the article does not, therefore, support the claim that one system is superior to the other. Essentially, both systems have their inherent merits and demerits. The merits of one system are offset by the merits of the other system and vice versa.

The PRIVMORT project was funded in 2013 by the European Research Council and conducted large-sample surveys in Russia, Belarus and Hungary (in total 63,073 interviews) to examine the impact of privatisation on health in post-communist states. Project funding is set to continue until later this year.

Over 7 million excess premature deaths were experienced in post-communist countries in the early 1990’s, with obvious peaks in this type of death over subsequent major economic downturns. Previous research has attributed proximal causes of these deaths to factors including alcohol and social and psychological stress, but the more distant factors for these fluctuations in death toll are unclear. The PRIVMORT project was designed to link micro- and macro- level data to determine the hierarchy of causes of mortality from the distal (e.g. privatization) to the proximal (e.g. alcohol) in the three aforementioned countries.

The main research objectives of the project were:
1. To conduct an in-depth investigation into the post-communist mortality crisis using multi-level data.
2. To provide meso- and micro-data to test the privatization-mortality hypothesis;
3. To understand whether post-communist mortality in general and any potential privatisation-induced mortality, in particular, are influenced by social factors such as class, occupational position, education, gender and community level factors; and
4. To examine the effect of these social variables on health outcomes in the post-communist states.

The initial outputs of the PRIVMORT dataset provide evidence indicate that the rapid pace of privatisation in post-Soviet Russia was a significant factor in increasing working-age male mortality. More results are yet to be published- keep checking back on the website for further information.
The website was developed by Timur Alexandrov, PhD researcher of the Department of Sociology.

Word count: 6682 2 Abstract Objective: To examine the social, family background and individual antecedents of conduct disorder (CD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), the extent to which CD and ODD symptoms were predicted by common environmental risk factors, and the extent to which the antecedents of CD and ODD accounted for the comorbidity between the two disorders.

Ülkemiz işgücü piyasasında kadınların işgücüne katılım oranları AB ülkelerine nazaran oldukça düşüktür.
Ülkemizdeki söz konusu durumun yaş ve kohort etkisini saptamak ve bu faktörlerin kadınların işgücüne
katılımını ne ölçüde etkilediğini belirlemek için kohort analizi yapılmıştır. Kohort analizi farklı alanlarda
birçok araştırmacı tarafından farklı modeller geliştirilerek kullanılmıştır. Bu analiz için Beaudry ve
Lemieux(1999) tarafından geliştirilen model kullanılmıştır. Bu modelde kadın işgücünü etkileyen faktörler;
makroekonomik etki, belli bir kohort içindeki kadınların yaşlarının etkisi ve kohortun spesifik etkisi olmak
üzere üç etkiye ayrıştırılarak incelenmiştir.Türkiye’de kadın işgücü üzerinde yaş etkisinin ve kohort etkisinin
belirleyici olduğu görülmektedir. Aynı zamanda makroekonomik etki olarak seçilen erkeklerin işsizlik
oranından da kadın işgücünün etkilendiği belirlenmiştir.

This study evaluated the effect of two approaches to provision of emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) on ECP use and unprotected intercourse among women relying on spermicides for contraception. The study enrolled 211 women at 4 family planning clinics in Ghana. At two clinics, participants were advised to return to the clinic within 3 days after unprotected intercourse to obtain ECPs.

Mentoring has long been recognized as an effective strategy for retaining and supporting doctoral students in their programs of study. In this qualitative investigation, we conducted three focus groups of protégés, peer mentors, and faculty mentors to explore definitions, experiences, and expectations of mentoring. Results indicated that the three groups had meaningful differences in all three areas of interest. These differences were consistent with emerging conceptual frameworks explaining adult learning processes and perceived needs. The frameworks involved "stages" of mentoring and classifying the student's preferred mentoring style along dimensions of pedagogy and andragogy. These frameworks suggest the need for clarifying protégé and mentor roles/expectations early and throughout the doctoral program.

Volunteering is one important exception. An analysis of a newly available archive of national surveys finds that the frequency with which Americans volunteer has increased 20% since the mid-1970s. However, nearly all of that increase is concentrated among older Americans, who are volunteering twice as frequent in the late 1990s as their sameaged predecessors did in the 1970s. Meanwhile, volunteering has actually decreased among middle-age adults, who once were the voluntary sector's most reliable source of donated labor. The reasons for increased volunteering among seniors remain elusive.