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Division Officers And Boards

Sci-Tech News

No abstract provided.

Full Issue: Vol. 65, No. 4

Sci-Tech News

No abstract provided.

Enriching Science And Math Through Engineering, Adrienne Redmond, Julie Thomas, Karen High, Margaret Scott, Pat Jordan, Jean Dockers

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This case study reviewed the collaborative efforts of university engineers, teacher educators, and middle school teachers to advance sixth- and seventh-grade students’ learning through a series of project-based engineering activities. This two-year project enriched regular school curricula by introducing real-world applications of science and mathematics concepts that expanded opportunities for creativity and problem-solving, introduced problem-based learning, and provided after-school programming (for girls only) led by engineering students from the local university. This engineering education initiative showed significant impact on students’ (1) confidence in science and mathematics; (2) effort toward science and mathematics; (3) awareness of engineering; and (4) interest in …

Office Hour Scheduling Tool, Tyler Dunlap

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

When an instructor (with or without student input) specifies her office hours for the semester, the informal process used often results in students experiencing conflicts with other lectures, labs, drills, or office hours. The result of this conflict is the student either scheduling individual meetings with teachers outside of their office hours or students missing the opportunity to get assistance from the instructor all together. Either outcome is undesirable, as it either takes additional faculty time from their other responsibilities or jeopardizes the performance of a student in their classes. One valid approach to solving this problem is through the …

Chernoff Dimensionality Reduction-Where Fisher Meets Fkt, Jing Peng, Guna Seetharaman, Wei Fan, Stefan Robila, Aparna Varde

Department of Computer Science Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Well known linear discriminant analysis (LDA) based on the Fisher criterion is incapable of dealing with heteroscedasticity in data. However, in many practical applications we often encounter heteroscedastic data, i.e., within-class scatter matrices can not be expected to be equal. A technique based on the Chernoff criterion for linear dimensionality reduction has been proposed recently. The technique extends well-known Fisher's LDA and is capable of exploiting information about heteroscedasticity in the data. While the Chernoff criterion has been shown to outperform the Fisher's, a clear understanding of its exact behavior is lacking. In addition, the criterion, as introduced, is rather …

Relating Land Cover And Channel Morphology To Stream Flow Function In The Lower Pee Dee Watershed, South Carolina, Zachary Smoot

All Theses

The South Carolina Pee Dee Project (SCPDP) aims to develop a method for the determination of Minimum Allowable Flows (MAFs) in streams in the Pee Dee region. This study is a portion of the larger SCPDP, focusing primarily upon analyses of geomorphic and hydrologic processes, as well as landscape and habitat analyses. Specific objectives include: 1) To distinguish the effect of various land cover classes and scales of analyses on components of stream flow function; 2) To determine trends in hydraulic geometry (regional curves) for the SCPDP region; and 3) To determine what measures of stream flow function, stream geomorphology, …

Going Green, Dermot Kehily

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports (Pbis) On Middle Level Students, Michael Raymond Havener

Dissertations

Many theories regarding school discipline have been developed and implemented. In this study, various discipline models are discussed and analyzed. One particular model that claims to significantly reduce discipline referrals is Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS). The primary purpose of this study was to determine if PBIS is effective in reducing discipline referrals in a particular Midwest suburban 6-8 middle school. In addition, the referrals were analyzed to determine if there was a significant change in the academic achievement in the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) math and communication arts test scores after implementation of PBIS in 2008-2009. The population …

One Quotation, Two Meanings: Quotation Analysis Exercise, Dan Gleason

Writing Bootcamp Unit

This challenging lesson gives students practice in analyzing quotations very closely. The exercise begins with the premise that quotations never “speak for themselves,” and that writers need to explain what quotations mean. To prove this point, this lesson shows students that specific quotations can in fact “mean” (or support) very different claims; in fact, students use a single quotation to advance almost opposite arguments. The goal of the lesson is for students to understand that quotations may be very malleable, and thus they always need clear framing and explanation. This lesson uses a short essay, “What is an American?” as …

Resting Stages And The Population Dynamics Of Harmful Algae, Wilber Ventura

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

The Conceivability-Possibility Relationship, Nicholas Gehm

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Message From The Senior Vice Provost And Dean Of Undergraduate Studies, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Notes From The Director, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Friends Of The Library Mcnair Scholarship Awards, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Mentor Profile, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Acknowledgements, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Mcnair Scholars Program, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Review Of Teaching Children Science: Hands-On Nature Study In North America, 1890-1930 By Sally Kohlstedt, Meena M. Balgopal

The Prairie Naturalist

Many scientists and educators agree that the goal of science education is to prepare students "to know, use and interpret scientific explanations of the natural world," as cited in the National Research Council publication, Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8 (DuschI et al. 2007). Yet, many science instructors of K-12 and post-secondary students often rely on teacher-telling modes of pedagogy and neglect to engage their students in natural inquiry and scientific study that model the research methods used by scientists. As a result, many young people are not aware of how scientists make discoveries about …

Genetic Structure Of Grass Carp Populations In The Missouri And Mississippi River Basins, Usa, Bobbi M. Adams, Katie N. Bertrand, Michael L. Brown, Donald Auger

The Prairie Naturalist

We provided an early characterization of the genetic structure of the grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) population as it expands its distribution in both the Missouri and Mississippi River basins. Further, we provided initial comparisons of allelic richness at 17 polymorphic microsatellite markers between 56 grass carp from the USA, and six from the Yangtze River in China. The number of alleles per locus ranged from two to eight and size ranges of alleles for fish collected from the invaded and native ranges were similar (P ≤ 0.001; 107–226 bp) to those previously reported in the literature. Distance-based clustering …

Massasauga Repatriation On A Restored Wet Prairie, Francis E. Durbian, Brian N. Lomas, Jeff Briggler, Paul Mckenzie, Tom Nagel

The Prairie Naturalist

The massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) is a small rattlesnake that occurs from Texas to New York (Schmidt and Davis 1941, Conant and Collins 1991, Szymanski 1998). In Missouri, the Eastern massasauga rattlesnake (EMR; S. c. catenatus), a subspecies of the massasauga, occurs north and east of the Missouri River, is a former candidate for listing under the United States Endangered Species Act (Code of Federal Regulations 64 FR 57534; Szymanski 1998), and is listed as a state endangered species (Missouri Natural Heritage Program 2011). Missouri currently harbors five extant EMR populations (Johnson 2000, Durbian et al., unpublished report, …

Book Review Of Encyclopedia Of Biological Invasions, Edited By Daniel Simberloff And Marcel Rejmanek, Qinfeng Guo

The Prairie Naturalist

Book review of Encyclopedia of Biological Invasions, edited by Daniel Simberloff and Marcel Rejmanek.

Species introductions and consequent biotic invasions and homogenization are major components of global change that are drawing increasing concern and various levels of actions and reactions around the world. Invasion ecology has advanced rapidly during the last few decades, and the discipline is now increasingly integrated with the social and economic sciences. A better understanding of the invasion process and its effects is thus clearly needed. For basic research, invasion biology offers fascinating and sometimes unique opportunities for testing certain ecological or evolutionary theories and …

Notes On The Distribution Of Eastern Woodrats And Hispid Cotton Rats In South-Central Nebraska, Heather D. Wills, Keith Geluso, Eric J. Smits, Joseph T. Springer, Wesley E. Newton

The Prairie Naturalist

The eastern woodrat (Neotoma floridana) and hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) reach distributional limits in southern Nebraska (Jones 1964, Farney 1975). In the last half-century, both species have expanded their distributional ranges in the region (Kugler and Geluso 2009, Wright et al. 2010). Herein, we report new localities of occurrence for both species that extend known distributional boundaries in south-central Nebraska beyond those reported by Kugler and Geluso (2009) and Wright et al. (2010).

Associated with other studies, we captured small mammals in Sherman live-traps in south-central Nebraska. Voucher specimens were deposited in collections at the …

Comparison Of Fish Communities In Recently Constructed Side-Channel Chutes With The Main Stem Missouri River, Kasey Whiteman, Vincent H. Travnichek, Darrick L. Garner, Brandon Eder, Kirk Steffensen

The Prairie Naturalist

Two United States Army Corp of Engineers- (USACE) funded projects were conducted from 2006 to 2008 along the Missouri River to monitor fish communities in recently constructed side-channel chutes and to monitor pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) and the associated fish assemblage in the main stem Missouri River. Data from both monitoring projects were compared to evaluate fish assemblages among four mitigated habitats (e.g., constructed side-channel chutes) and the main-stem Missouri River. Chutes had a greater overall number of species (n = 59) and higher species richness (Margalef’s index = 5.81), but richness was not different (F1, 4 = …

Patterns Of Age-0 Gizzard Shad Abundance And Food Habits In A Nebraska Irrigation Reservoir, Christopher L. Sullivan, Casey W. Schoenebeck, Keith D. Koupal, W. Wyatt Hoback, Brian C. Peterson

The Prairie Naturalist

Gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum) are prolific spawners that can influence reservoir communities. Larval gizzard shad may compete with larval recreational fish for zooplankton resources. Therefore, it is necessary to determine larval gizzard shad dynamics and food habits to better understand their potential for competition with larval recreational fish. Our study examined age-0 gizzard shad abundance in Harlan County Reservoir during late spring/summer from 2002–2010 and food habits and prey electivity of age-0 gizzard shad during late spring/summer 2008 and 2009. The annual peak age-0 gizzard shad density 3 from 2002–2010 ranged from 50 to 380/100 m , which …

Northern Harrier Hatches Mallard Nest, Jeffery W. Stackhouse, Benjamin A. Geaumont

The Prairie Naturalist

The northern harrier (Circus cyaneus) is a widespread raptor commonly found nesting throughout the Northern Great Plains. Northern harriers forage primarily on small mammals and passerines with the males providing the majority of prey to nestlings until 14–28 days of age (Redpath et al. 2006, Vukovich and Ritchison 2006). Although the genus Circus is known to predate eggs from nest of many nesting birds (Hiraldo et al. 1975, Donaszar et al. 1996, Opermanis et al. 2000), few have been recorded commandeering nests of different species (Laine 1928, Fleskes 1992). In June 2010, we observed a northern harrier that …

Late Seasonal Captures Of The Plains Pocket Mouse (Perognathus Flavescens) In Iowa, Hans W. Otto, Jeremy A. White

The Prairie Naturalist

The plains pocket mouse, Perognathus flavescens, is a nocturnal granivore that inhabits friable soils in sparsely vegetated areas (Monk and Jones 1996). In the United States, the distribution of the plains pocket mouse extends from Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas through the Great Plains to North Dakota and Minnesota (Hall 1981). This species reaches its easternmost limits in Iowa, where it has been documented from a limited number of grassland sites in eastern, central, and western parts of the state (Bowles 1975, Wilson et al. 1996). Due to loss of grassland habitat, the plains pocket mouse is currently listed …

Rainbow: An R Package For Visualizing Functional Time Series, Han Lin Shang

The R Journal

Recent advances in computer technology have tremendously increased the use of functional data, whose graphical representation can be infinite-dimensional curves, images or shapes. This article describes four methods for visualizing functional time series using an R add-on package. These methods are demonstrated using age-specific Australian fertility data from 1921 to 2006 and monthly sea surface temperatures from January 1950 to December 2006.

Using The Google Visualisation Api With R, Markus Gesmann, Diego De Castillo

The R Journal

The googleVis package provides an interface between R and the Google Visualisation API to create interactive charts which can be embedded into web pages. The best known of these charts is probably the Motion Chart, popularised by Hans Rosling in his TED talks. With the googleVis package users can easily create web pages with interactive charts based on R data frames and display them either via the local R HTTPhelp server or within their own sites.

Ckmeans.1d.Dp: Optimal K-Means Clustering In One Dimension By Dynamic Programming, Haizhou Wang, Mingzhou Song

The R Journal

The heuristic k-means algorithm, widely used for cluster analysis, does not guarantee optimality. We developed a dynamic programming algorithm for optimal one-dimensional clustering. The algorithm is implemented as an R package called Ckmeans.1d.dp. We demonstrate its ad vantage in optimality and runtime over the standard iterative k-means algorithm.

Implementing The Compendium Concept With Sweave And Docstrip, Michael Lundholm

The R Journal

This article suggests an implementation of the compendium concept by combining Sweave and the LATEX literate programming environment DOCSTRIP.