Mentice, Inc. and Education Management Solutions, Inc. Form OEM Partnership

EVANSTON, Ill. and Exton, Pa., Oct 12, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Mentice, Inc., a leading developer and supplier of virtual reality (VR) based medical simulation systems and Education Management Solutions, Inc. (EMS), a leader in clinical skills training and evaluation software solutions, today announced at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics symposium in Washington D.C., an OEM partnership that enables Mentice to market MenticeSIM(TM) as a standard option to its flagship Vascular Intervention Simulation Trainer (VIST(TM)). Mentice selected EMS' technology as its video capture, skills evaluation, and debriefing software solution because of its robust functionality, ease of use and EMS' dominant market presence.

Interventional expertise is a result of optimal decision making combined with accomplished equipment handling skills. MenticeSIM(TM) digitally documents the technical components and the cognitive decisions throughout each simulated procedure so that a learner's ability can be assessed. Its archiving capability provides a continuum of the learner's advancement in skill and knowledge. The education and efficiency derived from this system drastically enhances the learner's experience while maximizing the evaluator's time and effort.

MenticeSIM(TM) is a digital recording, data collection, and assessment solution designed for improving simulation training. It captures the VR event, the event log file, and the Fluoroscopic images in real-time and provides evaluators the ability to assess and score trainee performance via checklists based on curriculum objectives. Remote access via multiple channels is available to deliver an efficient methodology for reviewing and assessing each VR experience.

"We are excited to partner with EMS and bundle its technology with the Mentice VIST(TM)," said Tim Shannon, VP of Sales and Marketing, Americas. "While the simulator facilitates the training of basic and complex interventional techniques, MenticeSIM(TM) provides the added benefits of both technical and cognitive assessment capabilities. This partnership further highlights both Mentice's desire to enhance its educational offering to its customers and its dedicated focus on the endovascular simulation market."

The Mentice VIST(TM) combined with MenticeSIM(TM) is a powerful teaching and educational solution. It enables objective measurement of skills which makes it possible for academic institutions, community hospital groups, and industry customers to establish benchmarks, maintain quality standards, monitor competencies and conduct valuable research over time. The ultimate goal is to enhance the safety and outcome of a human patient's experience.

"We are very pleased about the partnership with Mentice as it provides global opportunities for EMS in the virtual reality market," said Anurag Singh, CEO of Education Management Solutions. "Both Mentice and EMS have a common goal of promoting patient safety and we believe that the integration of MenticeSIM(TM) with the Mentice VIST(TM) will further help in that endeavor.

Education gains stall for latest generation

Since World War II, if not before, it has been assumed that children were more likely to graduate from college than their parents. Now, those generational gains appear to have stalled.

About 35 percent of adults age 25 to 29 in 2006 had earned a college degree -- essentially the same number of adults 30 and older, the American Council on Education has found in a new report. Among Hispanics and American Indians, younger adults are less likely to have a two- or four-year college degree than previous generations.

The percentage of younger adults with a bachelor's degree was 26.9 percent in 2006, sharply lower than 29.3 percent in 2003. Forty percent of 18-24-year-olds were enrolled in college.

"It appears we are at a tipping point in our nation’s history," said ACE President Molly Corbett Broad. "One of the core tenets of the American dream is the hope that younger generations, who’ve had greater opportunities for educational advancement than their parents and grandparents, will be better off than the generations before them, yet this report shows that aspiration is at serious risk."

In 2006, 18 percent of adult Hispanics had at least an associate degree, compared with 16 percent of younger Hispanics. Among American Indians, the figures were 21 percent and 18 percent, respectively.

The educational attainment rates of African-Americans remained steady at 24 percent.

Whites and Asian-Americans continued to graduate from college in higher numbers. Among Asian-Americans, 66 percent of young adults had earned a degree, compared with 54 percent of older adults. Among whites, the percentages were 41 percent among today's students, and 37 for the older generations.

Yet total minority enrollment at the nation's colleges and universities between 1995-2005 rose by 50 percent, from 3.4 million to 5 million. White enrollment increased 8 percent.

Women continue to outpace men. Among those age 18 to 24, 36 percent of men were enrolled in college in 2006 compared with 44 percent of young women. Women earn 57 percent of all bachelor's degrees awarded.

About 85 percent of the US population graduates from high sc

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hool, a figure that has remained more or less steady over the past two decades.

Education in india

Lecturers' accused them of a "fat-cat mentality" when The Times Higher Education Supplement revealed that vice-chancellors' pay went up by 6.3 per cent and pay for lecturers and researchers rose by 3 per cent.

The highest paid vice-chancellor is John Quelch, dean of the London Business School, who earned £266,000 after a rise of 5.6 per cent. Michael Wright, the vice-chancellor of Aston University was the second highest. His pay rise of 10.3 per cent took his salary to £161,000.

Arthur Lucas, principal of King's College London, earns £158,000 after a rise of 15.3 per cent. Lord Oxburgh, who retired last month as rector of Imperial College, London, received a 27.1 per cent increase, taking his salary to £136,000. Dai John, the vice-chancellor of Luton, had a pay rise of 24.1 per cent to £130,000.

David Triesman, general secretary of the Association of University Teachers, said: "These figures reveal a shameless attempt by vice-chancellors to reward themselves for the hard work and effort of their staff. This fat-cat mentality smacks of hypocrisy of the highest order." Tom Wilson, head of the universities department at thelecturers' union, Natfhe, said:"It is never clear what criteria are used for deciding vicechancellors' salaries. Universities' remuneration committees are supposed to review their performance but against what? Student numbers? Progress on equal opportunities? Industrial relations?

"The salaries don't seem to bear any relation to the size of the job. Last year we wrote to universities asking for details of the basis of their decisions but got nowhere."

A spokesman for the London Business School said: "We are operating in an international environment. We have to pay according to the rates that the market demands. It is as simple as that."

Of 163 heads of institutions, only 18 accepted pay rises of 3 per cent or less and a further 10 accepted a pay cut, usually compared with their predecessors' salaries. The rest had rises greater than those they imposed on their staff.

CAT

Student Dean Hofstee, 19, was killed and Clancy Coker, 20, seriously injured when the car allegedly hit them outside their inner Melbourne Southbank hotel early on Wednesday.

The Gold Coast students were in the city for the annual Australian University Games.

Puneet, 19, an Indian hospitality student in Australia on an education visa, said factors other than alcohol and speed were to blame for the crash.

"My eyes were sore and they were closed and when they opened a cat came on to the road and I lost control," Puneet said.

Puneet, of Newport, has been charged with culpable driving and was granted bail after appearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

He is due to appear in court again in January.

An investigation by police indicated he was travelling at more than 150km/h in a 60km/h zone and had a blood-alcohol level of .165 - more than three times the legal limit.

Learner drivers must have no alcohol in their blood.

"I don't think I was going at 150km/h," Puneet said.

"If it had been that fast, the balloons (air bags) would have come out. I didn't see them (Mr Hofstee and Mr Coker) coming out after I crashed into the pole."

The two friends were about to enter the Mantra Hotel at about 1am when the car, which had allegedly skidded for 100m, mounted the footpath and struck them.

Puneet said that in the hours before the crash he had been drinking at a restaurant in Nunawading with colleagues from Telstra - where he works part time as a sales representative.

"I was drinking scotch. I had four scotch and Cokes at the restaurant," he said.

"I was coming back from a party at Nunawading with my team leader from Telstra."

Mr Hofstee, from Burleigh Heads, died at the scene.

His Griffith University mate, Mr Coker, from Mermaid Beach, is recovering in the Alfred hospital with head injuries and suspected fractures to his leg and pelvis.

Peter and Fran Hofstee paid tribute to their son, describing him as loving, talented and larger than life.

"As much as Dean loved you, you loved him. He loved life," they said. "Dean was larger than life and lived and loved it to the full."

Puneet said he was too ashamed to tell his family in India about "the worst day of my life".

He is not allowed to drive while on bail, must report to police five times a week and cannot leave the country.