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The field of applied linguistics is becoming increasingly transdisciplinary as recognition for the need to approach empirical questions from a variety of epistemological and theoretical perspectives grows (Douglas Fir Group, 2016). One methodological approach that holds promise for advancing sophisticated inquiry into complex issues of applied linguistics is mixed methods research (MMR); however, studies adopting MMR to its fullest potential remain infrequent. Employing an exploratory sequential mixed methods design that includes a focus group and survey questionnaire, this empirical study investigates the internal and external factors that may lead applied linguistics researchers to avoid conducting and/or publishing MMR. Integrated analyses revealed that participants' methodological and publishing decisions were influenced by factors such as their socialization into research practices in graduate school, the pressure to publish, and the considerations of the research journal industry. Implications for future applied linguistics researcher education programs and the impact of the publishing industry on research agendas are discussed.

This chapter describes a successful approach for the preparation of future faculty to implement and advance effective teaching practices for diverse learners, currently implemented at nearly 40 graduate universities in the United States and Canada.

OBJECTIVE: Surgical encounters decreased during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and may have been deferred more in children with impeded health care access related to social/community risk factors. We compared surgery trends before and during the pandemic by Child Opportunity Index (COI). METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 321,998 elective surgical encounters of children ages 0-to-18 years in 44 US children's hospitals from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2021. We used auto-regression to compare observed versus predicted encounters by month in 2020-21, modeled from 2017 to 2019 trends. Encounters were compared by COI score (very low, low, moderate, high, very high) based on education, health/environment, and social/economic attributes of the zip code from the children's home residence. RESULTS: Most surgeries were on the musculoskeletal (28.1%), ear/nose/pharynx (17.1%), cardiovascular (15.1%), and digestive (9.1%) systems; 20.6% of encounters were for children with very low COI, 20.8% low COI, 19.8% moderate COI, 18.6% high COI, and 20.1% very high COI. Reductions in observed volume of 2020-21 surgeries compared with predicted varied significantly by COI, ranging from -11.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] -14.1%, -8.7%) for very low COI to -2.6% (95%CI -3.9%, 0.7%) for high COI. Variation by COI emerged in June 2020, as the volume of elective surgery encounters neared baseline. For 12 of the next 18 months, the reduction in volume of elective surgery encounters was the greatest in children with very low COI. CONCLUSIONS: Children from very low COI zip codes experienced the greatest reduction in elective surgery encounters during early COVID-19 without a subsequent increase in encounters over time to counterbalance the reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graduate students and post-doctoral scholars at research universities will shape the future of undergraduate education in the natural and social sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (the STEM disciplines) in the United States. In 2009 alone, more than 41,000 doctorates were awarded in STEM fields, and if employment trends hold, roughly one in every three STEM PhDs will become faculty or instructional staff within six years of receiving their degree. Since almost 80 percent of doctoral students are trained at only 100 research universities, the graduate schools of these institutions are a critical leverage point for improving undergraduate STEM education across the country. In this article, the authors share the story of the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL), its conceptual framework for the preparation of future faculty, and one example of a high-impact implementation: the Delta Program in Research, Teaching and Learning (Delta) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This story shows how institutions can provide aspiring academics with professional development opportunities in teaching and learning that are demonstrably effective and institutionally sustainable. In particular, it describes three core ideas that cultivate the knowledge, behaviors, and skills that future STEM faculty need in order to help generate undergraduate learning. Finally this story demonstrates that a combination of creative freedom, a sense of having a broader impact, and enhanced professional success will engage current faculty members, and thereby their universities, in this important national mission. (Contains 4 figures, 3 tables, and 6 resources.)

Companies worldwide are turning to organizational communities of practice (OCoPs) as vehicles to generate learning and enhance organizational performance. OCoPs are defined as groups of employees who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic and who strengthen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on a consistent basis. To date, OCoP research has drawn almost exclusively from the community of practice (CoP) literature, even though the organizational form of CoPs shares attributes of traditional CoPs and of organizational teams. Drawing on Lave and Wenger's (1991) original theory of legitimate peripheral participation, we integrate theory and research from CoPs and organizational teams to develop and empirically examine a model of OCoP effectiveness that includes constructs such as leadership, empowerment, the structure of tasks, and OCoP relevance to organizational effectiveness. Using data from 32 OCoPs in a U.S.-based multinational mining and minerals processing firm, we found that external community leaders play an important role in enhancing OCoP empowerment, particularly to the extent that task interdependence is high. Empowerment, in turn, was positively related to OCoP effectiveness. We also found that OCoPs designated as "core" by the organization (e.g., working on critical issues) were more effective than those that were noncore. Task interdependence also was positively related to OCoP effectiveness. We provide scholars and practitioners with insights on how to effectively manage OCoPs in today's organizations. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)

This article argues that the teaching of public writing should not neglect issues of circulation and local need. In a series of case studies involving small press papers and homeless advocacy, the authors seek to extend recent work begun by Susan Wells, John Trimbur, and Nancy Welch, which raises crucial questions about public rhetoric in the writing classroom. (Contains 6 notes.)

In an attempt to move, if not balance, the scales of activity toward increasing scientific capability across a diverse national population, U.S. federal funding agencies are purposefully linking research funding to broad national impact. Among United States federal agencies, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has led the way in the integration of research, teaching, and learning. Since 1997, the NSF's proposal review process has had two major criteria: intellectual merit and broader impacts. Centers such as the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) view the NSF broader-impacts criterion as an opportunity to develop capacity for effectively integrating research, teaching, and learning. CIRTL (www.cirtlcafe.net) is an NSF Center for Learning and Teaching. The CIRTL Network comprises six research universities: Howard University, Michigan State University, Texas A&M University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Vanderbilt University. This national network is developing model professional-development programs in teaching and learning for graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, and faculty in the STEM disciplines. The prototype CIRTL program was implemented at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as the Delta Program in Research, Teaching and Learning (www.delta.wisc.edu). The Delta Program is a curriculum of graduate courses, intergenerational small-group programs, and internships embedded within an interdisciplinary learning community. In this article, the authors describe the approach the Delta Program takes to help STEM researchers develop, implement, and evaluate broader-impacts initiatives. (Contains 1 table and 5 resources.)

Background: Although controversial, early administration of tranexamic acid (TXA) has been shown to reduce mortality in adult patients with major trauma. Tranexamic acid has also been successfully used in elective pediatric surgery, with significant reduction in blood loss and transfusion requirements. There are limited data to guide its use in pediatric trauma patients. We sought to determine the current practices for TXA administration in pediatric trauma patients in the United States. Methods: A survey was conducted of all the American College of Surgeons-verified Level I and II trauma centers in the United States. The survey data underwent quantitative analysis. Results: Of the 363 Level I and II qualifying centers, we received responses from 220 for an overall response rate of 61%. Eighty of 99 verified pediatric trauma centers responded for a pediatric trauma center response rate of 81%. Of all responding centers, 148 (67%) reported they care for pediatric trauma patients, with an average of 513 pediatric trauma patients annually. The pediatric trauma centers report caring for an average of 650 pediatric trauma patients annually. Of all centers caring for pediatric trauma, 52 (35%) report using TXA, with the most common initial dosing being 15 mg/kg (68%). A follow-up infusion was utilized by 45 (87%) of the programs, most commonly dosed at 2 mg/kg/hr × 8 hr utilized by 24 centers (54%). Conclusion: Although the clinical evidence for TXA in pediatric trauma patients is limited, we believe that consideration should be given for use in major trauma with hemodynamic instability or significant risk for ongoing hemorrhage. If available, resuscitation should be guided by thromboelastography to identify candidates who would most benefit from antithrombolytic administration. This represents a low-cost/low-risk and high-yield therapy for pediatric trauma patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The US FDA has developed numerous accelerated pathways (APs) to facilitate faster development and approval of innovative drugs addressing unmet needs. Methods: To gauge how payers in the United States view APs, PAREXEL and the Network for Excellence in Healthcare Innovation (NEHI) surveyed 20 national, regional, public, and private payers whose coverage decisions impact 228 million patients. Results: The survey shows that APs have created new challenges and concerns for payers, including greater difficulty valuing drugs that have less clinical information available at launch. Conclusions: Our survey indicates that policies must further the goal of getting needed new medicines to patients expeditiously, while managing the risks AP drugs entail for payers and, most importantly, patients. For developers, a trend toward value-based assessments of both AP and non-AP drugs by payers may require ever-earlier and more data-driven decision making about the value of new products in development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes new methods to reach safety targets for sense-and-avoid sensors for unmanned aircraft systems by evaluating integrity and continuity risks. These methods can be used to set sensor requirements. The closest-point-of-approach distance and time to closest point of approach, τ, are used to measure the hazards associated with the intruder aircraft. The contribution to knowledge in this paper is a new method that uses hazard state estimates and estimate error to establish 1) the integrity risk of the sense-and-avoid system not detecting imminent loss of self-separation, and 2) the probability of false alert, the flight-path continuity risk. A sensitivity analysis evaluates the impact on integrity and continuity of sensor noise, range, and sample interval. The methods described in this paper can be used to set potential sense-and-avoid sensor requirements for unmanned aircraft system integration into the National Airspace System. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this cross national study, 846 university students' preferences and perceptions of two instructional orientations--Student as Product and Student as Customer--were contrasted. Students from Argentina, West Indies, Canada, Egypt and the US were included. Overall, academic major, gender, and age were not significantly related to student preferences and perceptions of their educational experience. The results indicate that students from the Western Hemisphere share many educational preferences and perceptions for the two instructional orientations not shared by Egyptian students. However, students from all five countries were in agreement that their instructors did not treat them as customer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Recherches Feministes is the property of Groupe de Recherche et d'Echange Multidisciplinaires Feministes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objectives: We evaluated the short- and long-term safety of contrast agents during stress echocardiography (SE). Background: Concerns about contrast agent safety led to revised recommendations for product use in the U.S. Methods: We studied 26,774 patients who underwent SE between November 1, 2003, and December 31, 2007. The 10,792 patients who comprised the contrast cohort received second-generation perfluorocarbon-based agents for left ventricular opacification during SE. The noncontrast cohort comprised 15,982 patients who had their first SE in the same period but without contrast agents. Short-term (≤72 h and ≤30 days) and long-term (up to 4.5 years) end points were death and myocardial infarction (MI). Cox regression models were used. Immediate contrast agent-related adverse effects were also reported. Results: The contrast cohort had older patients (mean [SD] age, 65.8 [12.1] years vs. 62.6 [14.1] years; p < 0.001), a higher percentage of males (57.4% vs. 52.8%, p < 0.001), and higher-risk patients compared with the noncontrast cohort. In addition, dobutamine SE patients had greater cardiac risk than exercise SE patients. Abnormal SE findings in patients who received contrast agents were more frequent (32.4% vs. 27.9%, p < 0.001). The 2 cohorts had no statistical difference in the incidence of short-term events (death and MI). Within 72 h, 1 patient in the contrast cohort and 2 patients in the noncontrast cohort died (p = 0.54); 3 in the contrast cohort and 7 in the noncontrast cohort had MI (p = 0.92). Within 30 days, 37 patients (0.34%) in the contrast cohort and 57 patients (0.36%) in the noncontrast cohort died (p = 0.85); 17 patients (0.16%) in the contrast cohort and 16 patients (0.10%) in the noncontrast cohort had MI (p = 0.19). Adjusted hazard ratios were not different between cohorts for death (0.99; 95% confidence interval: 0.88 to 1.11) or MI (0.99; 95% confidence interval: 0.80 to 1.22). Conclusions: The use of contrast agents during SE was not associated with an increased short-term or long-term risk of death or MI. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Diabetes & Metabolism is the property of Masson Editeur and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Human activities, such as research, innovation and industry, concentrate disproportionately in large cities. The ten most innovative cities in the United States account for 23% of the national population, but for 48% of its patents and 33% of its gross domestic product. But why has human activity become increasingly concentrated? Here we use data on scientific papers, patents, employment and gross domestic product, for 353 metropolitan areas in the United States, to show that the spatial concentration of productive activities increases with their complexity. Complex economic activities, such as biotechnology, neurobiology and semiconductors, concentrate disproportionately in a few large cities compared to less--complex activities, such as apparel or paper manufacturing. We use multiple proxies to measure the complexity of activities, finding that complexity explains from 40% to 80% of the variance in urban concentration of occupations, industries, scientific fields and technologies. Using historical patent data, we show that the spatial concentration of cutting-edge technologies has increased since 1850, suggesting a reinforcing cycle between the increase in the complexity of activities and urbanization. These findings suggest that the growth of spatial inequality may be connected to the increasing complexity of the economy.