Engaging a New Generation of Philanthropists: Findings from the Pay IT Forward Student Philanthropy Initiative

This report focuses on an emerging trend in higher education called student philanthropy, an experiential learning approach where students study social issues in the community and make decisions about distributing funds to nonprofit organizations. Previous research in the field of student philanthropy has revealed promising results: those enrolled in student philanthropy courses have shown a greater awareness of social problems and nonprofits, a heightened sense of responsibility to help others in need, and a greater likelihood to give their time and money in the future to support their community. However, little is known about the ways previous philanthropy experiences of students and components of student philanthropy courses may explain these outcomes.This report examines students enrolled in student philanthropy courses through Pay it Forward, an initiative of the Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio Campus Compacts that seeks to develop a new generation of philanthropists through infusing the practice of philanthropy as a core component of college coursework. This report asks three key questions about the Pay it Forward course:What are the prior philanthropic experiences of Pay it Forward participants?What features of a Pay it Forward course predict student confidence in their philanthropic skills, abilities, and knowledge?What aspects of a Pay it Forward course predict changes in students' plans to donate money to, volunteer in, and otherwise support their communities

Boundary and Coulomb Effects on Boson Systems in High-Energy Heavy-Ion Collisions

The boundary of a boson system plays an important role in determining the momentum distribution of the bosons. For a boson system with a cylindrical boundary, the momentum distribution is enhanced at high transverse momenta but suppressed at low transverse momenta, relative to a Bose-Einstein distribution. The boundary effects on systems of massless gluons and massive pions are studied. For gluons in a quark-gluon plasma, the presence of the boundary may modify the signals for the quark-gluon plasma. For pions in a pion system in heavy-ion collisions, Coulomb final-state interactions with the nuclear participants in the vicinity of the central rapidity region further modify the momentum distribution at low transverse momenta. By including both the boundary effect and the Coulomb final-state interactions we are able to account for the behavior of the $\pi^{-}$ transverse momentum spectrum observed in many heavy-ion experiments, notably at low transverse momenta.Comment: 15 pages Postscript uuencoded tar-comprssed file, 9 Postscript figures uuencoded tar-compressed fil

An Evolution Based Biosensor Receptor DNA Sequence Generation Algorithm

A biosensor is composed of a bioreceptor, an associated recognition molecule, and a signal transducer that can selectively detect target substances for analysis. DNA based biosensors utilize receptor molecules that allow hybridization with the target analyte. However, most DNA biosensor research uses oligonucleotides as the target analytes and does not address the potential problems of real samples. The identification of recognition molecules suitable for real target analyte samples is an important step towards further development of DNA biosensors. This study examines the characteristics of DNA used as bioreceptors and proposes a hybrid evolution-based DNA sequence generating algorithm, based on DNA computing, to identify suitable DNA bioreceptor recognition molecules for stable hybridization with real target substances. The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) approach is applied in the proposed algorithm to evaluate the safety and fitness of the generated DNA sequences. This approach improves efficiency and stability for enhanced and variable-length DNA sequence generation and allows extension to generation of variable-length DNA sequences with diverse receptor recognition requirements

Antibiotic prescribing for otitis media: how well does it match published guidelines?

Otitis media (OM) accounts for ∼ 31 million physician visits annually, and is typically treated with antibiotics. Amoxicillin is the recommended first-line treatment; appropriate antibiotic use slows the development of resistance. We analyzed insurance claims from families of employees working at a single company to determine if OM treatments (1) matched published standards; and (2) varied by patient characteristics, type of physician practice or geographic location. Persons diagnosed with OM between 1996 and 1999 were matched to prescription drug claims for those who filled an antibiotic prescription within 3 days of diagnosis. Physicians prescribed amoxicillin for only 31% of acute cases and 19% of recurrent cases. For acute infections in children≤ 2 years the prescribed duration often matched the standard of 10 days, but for persons > 2 years the prescribed duration was often longer than the suggested duration of 5–7 days. For persons of all ages with recurrent infections, the prescribed duration was often shorter than suggested (10 days versus≥ 14 days). There were only modest variations by urban/rural location or provider type. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/35156/1/763_ftp.pd

Abscessos cerebrais múltiplos após apendicectomia: relato de caso

Paciente masculino de 39 anos, com quadro de abdomen agudo de evolução de 72 horas, foi submetido a apendicectomia. Desenvolveu 14 dias após, quadro de cefaléia, vômitos, afasia, torpor, hemiplegia à direita e rigidez de nuca. A tomografia computadorizada craniana mostrou múltiplos abscessos cerebrais supra tentoriais bilateralmente. Após punção aspirativa do maior deles foi instituída antibióticoterapia resultando em cura do paciente.A 39 years old male patient with a 72 hours evolution of acute abdominal syndrome was submitted to appendicectomy. Fourteen days later he developed headache, vomiting, aphasia, torpor, nuchal stiffness and right hemiplegia. A CT-scan showed multiple brain abscesses on both hemispheres. After aspirative puncture of the largest one, antibiotic treatment was established with total recovery of the patient

From the Editors' Desk

Thank you to those who submitted manuscripts and gave us the privilege of reviewing your work, prevailing through web glitches and delays. Though some manuscripts were not ready for publication at this time, all demonstrated the capacity of the field to engage in research that is multidisciplinary, draws on different theoretical frameworks, employs a variety of methodologies, and offers multiple lessons on the impact of and value to service-learning and community engagement. The mission of the International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement is realized through the articles that make up this first issue.</jats:p

From the Editors' Desk

“We are a work in progress.” That seems like an apt description for the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE), sponsor of this journal, which is continuing to grow and build its identity, and for the Journal itself, whose second issue represents the continued exploration of the broad fields of service-learning and community engagement. As we have discovered through more than a decade of IARSLCE conference presentation and two years of Journal submissions, service-learning and community engagement encompass a broad array of educational and developmental activities, ranging from the improved teaching of math and science to creative strategies for addressing HIV/AIDS in urban communities.</jats:p