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In line with its mission to promote public leadership in Africa, the UCT Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance (NMSPG) implements the Emerging African Leaders Programme (EALP). With the use of an intensive two-week residential workshop in Cape Town, integral coaching and an EALP alumni network, the programme endeavours to enhance the leadership capacity of emerging African leaders. The purpose of the EALP alumni network is to keep EALP alumni connected, enable them to have an ongoing dialogue and facilitate collaborations with the ultimate objective of making a contribution to addressing Africa's wicked challenges. A mixed method formative outcome evaluation of the networking component of the EALP was conducted. Data was collected by means of a document review, an online survey, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions involving the main stakeholders. The findings showed that the EALP alumni network had created, albeit in a suboptimal resource-constrained context, positive outcomes at individual, network, organisational and policy-making levels. The network helped to increase the self-confidence, connectivity, networking ability, networking, problem-solving and decision making capacity, learning, social capital and career prospects of EALP alumni. Furthermore, most of the EALP alumni expressed above average trust and commitment in the EALP alumni network, and, opined that efforts were made to ensure effective inclusion of all network members. On the other hand, on average, EALP alumni, were generally connected and interacted with others within their respective cohort, with mutual support and exchange of information and other resources only occasionally taking place among them. Of the sample, fifty percent of the EALP alumni experienced network cohesion. On average, EALP alumni, reported that it was easy to collaborate on the network but they had developed few productive collaborations with others. Slightly more than half of EALP alumni were satisfied with the management of the EALP alumni network and one fifth of them had fully internalised the network goal. Some positive outcomes were also noted at organisational and policy-making levels. With a view to strengthening the EALP alumni network, ensuring its sustainability and improving its effectiveness, the following recommendations have been made: formulation of a strategy and plans for the network, introduction of a monitoring, evaluation and learning system, formalisation of the network, appointment of a dedicated network manager to engage and support EALP alumni, and ongoing capacity-building.

Excerpt: The study by Linna et al1 posited that “eating disorders appear to be associated with several adverse perinatal outcomes, particularly in offspring.” The adverse outcomes included anemia, slow fetal growth, premature contractions, and perinatal death. However, this conclusion cannot be supported by the data because the authors failed to correct the standard value of P = .05 to account for the large number of hypothesis tests. This leads to what is known as type 2 error and causes a hypothesis to be accepted that is actually false.

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Objective: To examine associations between in utero marijuana exposure and birth outcomes. Study design: In two separate cohorts (Appalachian, Rocky Mountain), data were collected from medical records. Marijuana exposure was positive based on urine drug screening at delivery, with nonexposed controls matched on multiple factors including other substance exposure. Result: Marijuana-exposed newborns (n = 531) had significantly worse birth outcomes than controls (n = 531), weighing 218 g less, 82%, 79%, and 43% more likely to be low birth weight, preterm, or admitted to the NICU, respectively, and significantly lower Apgar scores. Conclusion: Marijuana exposure in utero predicted newborn factors linked to longer-term health and development issues. Effects were not attributable to other comorbidities in this study due to rigorous matching and biochemical verification of marijuana and other drug use. Findings add to growing evidence linking marijuana exposure to adverse birth and longer-term outcomes. Women should be encouraged to avoid marijuana use during pregnancy.

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The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate that approximately 6.7 million or 10.9% of women in the United States, between the ages of 15 and 44 have difficulty getting or remaining pregnant and of these women 6% are considered infertile (CDC, 2012). Infertility is defined as twelve months of regular, 2015 Appalachian Student Research Forum Page 53 unprotected intercourse yielding no pregnancy. Research suggests the experience of infertility has been associated with negative psychological outcomes, such as depression and anxiety. Even more problematic is that infertility can persist for an extended period of time and have long-lasting effects on psychological distress in those who remain unable to have children. Given the negative psychological outcomes experienced by those struggling with infertility, uncovering why and how these outcomes evolve for women with infertility may simultaneously reveal points of intervention to improve outcomes. The present study is premised on the idea that examining infertility in the context of stigma may provide an explanation for the increased psychological distress reported by women experiencing infertility. In the present study, we examined stigma as a framework for understanding the negative psychological outcomes for women who experience infertility. More specifically, we examined the relationship between stigma (public and internalized stigma) and psychological distress and the mediational role of self-esteem and partner satisfaction. The sample consisted of women experiencing infertility (N > 100) who completed an online survey titled “Survey on Women’s Experience with Infertility”. The average woman in the study was 33 years of age (M = 32.8, SD = 6.74), reported being married (70%), and was Caucasian/White (86.6%) and college educated. On average, women in the study had been trying to conceive for almost three years (M= 32.71 months, SD = 12.87). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the hypothesized relationships between public stigma, internalized stigma, self-esteem, partner satisfaction, and psychological distress. Overall the mediational model was supported, which suggests the relationship between public stigma and psychological distress may be partly explained by internalized stigma, selfesteem, and partner satisfaction. The results provide initial support for a stigma framework as an explanation for the negative psychological outcomes experienced by women struggling with infertility.

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This thesis presents two research problems regarding the evaluation of the learning outcomes and the curricular organization of the TESOL minor internship course at Brigham Young University. First, the course learning outcomes have not been revisited after their initial design which demands the need for assessment. Additionally, the current curricular organization of the course does not allow for all learning outcomes to apply to students enrolled in the course, as some of the students do their internships internationally which prevents them from participating in the sessions held locally during their internship. In an effort to find solutions to these two problems, data were gathered from the five main stakeholders of the internship course: university administrators and advisors, TESOL faculty, TESOL program coordinators, TESOL internship providers, and students who have enrolled in the TESOL minor internship course. The analysis of the data collected resulted in recommendations for the change and revision of the current learning outcomes into four new ones and the division of the internship curricular organization into two new components: an internship prep course, and in-service support sessions.

Early studies of school integration are limited to examining the impact of court-ordered integration on student outcomes. As districts are released from their court orders, the context within which integration operates has changed. As such, this study tests whether voluntary integration is a useful intervention for equalizing students' access to post-secondary education. I utilize data from the graduating class of 1997 from Jefferson County Public School District in Kentucky. Results indicate that student GPA is the largest and most influential predictor of both college attendance and prestige. Furthermore, results indicate that school diversity influences GPA differentially depending on students' race and economic background. Implications concerning the future of race-based integration policies are discussed.