Birmingham–Southern College (BSC) is a private college in Birmingham, Alabama. Founded in 1856, the college is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). More than 1300 students from 33 states and 16 foreign countries attend the college.
This article uses state-specific timing of legal changes and data from the Current Population Survey and National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women to estimate effects of confidential access to the pill in late adolescence on earnings, labor force participation, and human capital accumulation over the life cycle, finding no evidence of effects. These results are contrary to past research, which imposed a restriction on the regression model that this article shows explains the past results.
Power wheelchairs cost a significant amount of money, and insurance companies will not pay for a power wheelchair unless the child can demonstrate that he or she knows how to use the chair. Learning to use a power wheelchair takes time and practice, which is why some companies provide loaners; however, the loan period is not always long enough. This paper presents, Power Touring, a driving game intended to assist young children in learning to use a joystick in an effort to decrease the learning curve of a power wheelchair. We present a pilot study evaluating the functionality of the game. We then present a target study where the refined game was evaluated by five children. Four of the five children demonstrated progress in learning to use the joystick. The goal of this work is to serve as a foundation for future refinement of the application and joystick controller. Future refinements will be evaluated regarding the impact using the game had on the time it takes a child to learn to use a power wheelchair effectively.
Insects have evolved unique structures that host a diversity of material and mechanical properties, and the mouthparts (proboscis) of butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) are no exception. Here, we examined proboscis morphology and material properties from several previously unstudied moth lineages to determine if they relate to flower visiting and non-flower visiting feeding habits. Scanning electron microscopy and three-dimensional imaging were used to study proboscis morphology and assess surface roughness patterns on the galeal surface, respectively. Confocal laser scanning microscopy was used to study patterns of cuticular autofluorescence, which was quantified with colour analysis software. We found that moth proboscises display similar autofluorescent signals and morphological patterns in relation to feeding habits to those previously described for flower and non-flower visiting butterflies. The distal region of proboscises of non-flower visitors is brush-like for augmented capillarity and exhibited blue autofluorescence, indicating the possible presence of resilin and increased flexibility. Flower visitors have smoother proboscises and show red autofluorescence, an indicator of high sclerotization, which is adaptive for floral tube entry. We propose the lepidopteran proboscis as a model structure for understanding how insects have evolved a suite of morphological and material adaptations to overcome the challenges of acquiring fluids from diverse sources.
Over the last several years, nationally disseminated course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have emerged as an alternative to developing a novel CURE from scratch, but objective assessment of these multi-institution (network) CUREs across institutions is challenging due to differences in student populations, instructors, and fidelity of implementation. The time, money, and skills required to develop and validate a CURE-specific assessment instrument can be prohibitive. Here, we describe a co-design process for assessing a network CURE [the Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment (PARE)] that did not require support through external funding, was a relatively low time commitment for participating instructors, and resulted in a validated instrument that is usable across diverse PARE network institution types and implementation styles. Data collection efforts have involved over two dozen unique institutions, 42 course offerings, and over 1,300 pre-/post-matched assessment record data points. We demonstrated significant student learning gains but with small effect size in both content and science process skills after participation in the two laboratory sessions associated with the core PARE module. These results show promise for the efficacy of short-duration CUREs, an educational research area ripe for further investigation, and may support efforts to lower barriers for instructor adoption by leveraging a CURE network for developing and validating assessment tools.
