Digital Commons Network^™

Online Facilitators And Sense Of Community In K-12 Online Learning, Jeffery S. Drysdale

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the continued growth of K-12 online learning, there remains a need for additional research addressing roles of online facilitators and how they can improve the sense of community at K-12 online schools. The first article of this dissertation presents a case study illustrating how online facilitators can provide the same level of support for their students that on-site facilitators provide students in blended environments. Data was gathered from teachers at Mountain Heights Academy (MHA), a fully online high school. MHA implemented a "Shepherding Program" to provide student with online facilitators. Each teacher, or shepherd, was responsible for 20 to …

Techniques For The Visualization Of Positional Geospatial Uncertainty, Brent A. Barré

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Geospatial data almost always contains some amount of uncertainty due to inaccuracies in its acquisition and transformation. While the data is commonly visualized (e.g. on digital maps), there are unanswered needs for visualizing uncertainty along with it. Most research on effectively doing this addresses uncertainty in data values at geospatial positions, e.g. water depth, human population, or land-cover classification. Uncertainty in the data’s geospatial positions themselves (positional uncertainty) has not been previously focused on in this regard. In this thesis, techniques were created for visualizing positional uncertainty using World Vector Shoreline as an example dataset. The techniques consist of a …

Utilizing Economic And Environmental Data From The Desalination Industry As A Progressive Approach To Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (Otec) Commercialization, Michael R. Eller

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a renewable energy technology that has to overcome several key challenges before achieving its ultimate goal of producing baseload power on a commercial scale. The economic challenge of deploying an OTEC plant remains the biggest barrier to implementation. Although small OTEC demonstration plants and recent advances in subsystem technologies have proven OTEC’s technical merits, the process still lacks the crucial operational data required to justify investments in large commercial OTEC plants on the order of 50-100 megawatts of net electrical power (MWe-net). A pre-commercial pilot plant on the order of 5-10 MWe-net is required …

The Streets Are Talking: The Aesthetics Of Gentrification In Two Downriver New Orleans Neighborhoods, Tara E. Foster

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1970s, when neoliberal policies and changing consumer patterns began remaking cities, scholars have conducted research about gentrification. In New Orleans, these studies have helped explain the demographic and economic shifts in some neighborhoods. However, there has been limited focus on the built environment aspects of gentrification in New Orleans, specifically the interpretation of the external aesthetic shifts in streetscapes as part of the gentrification process. This thesis examines the relationship between these aesthetics, primarily graffiti and street art, and the gentrification process, as perceived by various stakeholders in two New Orleans neighborhoods: St. Roch and Bywater. Using empirical, …

Evidence Led Forward Planning - The Case For Capacity Studies, Paul J. Lawlor Mr

Articles

The 2010 Planning and Development Amendment Act requires Local Authorities to include core strategies in their development plans that demonstrate the location, quantum and phasing of development that is proposed to meet their future needs. However, the limited availability of usable data on the issues that enable development (such as land use, transport and open space) make it is difficult for Local Authorities to establish if (and how much) new development can be accommodated in designated areas. Noting that the National Spatial Strategy recommends the use of capacity studies to provide insights on future development scenarios in urban areas, this …

High Resolution X-Ray Diffraction Analysis Of Cb1 Receptor Antagonists As A Means To Explore Binding Affinity, Steven P. Fournet

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Charge density studies have been conducted on ten CB₁ cannabinoid receptor antagonists via high resolution x-ray crystallography. Bond critical point values and various other properties derived from these studies including the electrostatic potential were analyzed in correlation to the affinity of each compound with the CB₁ receptor. Correlation/anti-correlation was found between several properties and K_i. The data was also interpreted by principal component analysis with three principal components accounting for 85% of the data variation. Data mining was limit due to the low sample count and the requirements set for the inclusion of correlated/anti-correlated variables …

Clients' Perceptions Of Their Counseling Experiences For Trauma Related To Anesthesia Awareness (Aa), N. Arlene Magee

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Each year in the United States, approximately 81 million individuals receive surgeries in which .1% to .2% (20,000 to 40,000/20 million) experience Anesthesia Awareness (AA). More than 50% of the AA cases result in mental distress or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Because the percentage of AA cases among surgeries makes it appear to be a rare occurrence, and because it has received rather limited research attention, I decided to undertake an interpretative phenomenological analysis to discover AA clients’ perceptions of their counseling experience, and encourage development of therapeutic interventions to meet their needs.

The broad research question for my study …

Fraser Fir, Josie A. Scanlan

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Curated Reasoning By Formal Modeling Of Provenance, Kevin B. Shaw

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The core problem addressed in this research is the current lack of an ability to repurpose and curate scientific data among interdisciplinary scientists within a research enterprise environment. Explosive growth in sensor technology as well as the cost of collecting ocean data and airborne measurements has allowed for exponential increases in scientific data collection as well as substantial enterprise resources required for data collection. There is currently no framework for efficiently curating this scientific data for repurposing or intergenerational use.

There are several reasons why this problem has eluded solution to date to include the competitive requirements for funding and …

Intraurban Variability Of Ambient Particulate Matter, Varun Yadav

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

An understanding of spatial and temporal variability in ambient particulate matter: PM) is important for effective air quality management and for assessing potential exposure misclassification in epidemiological and exposure studies used to support health-based standards. Spatiotemporal variability of PM in urban areas can be influenced by many factors, such as local sources of primary PM; source locations and their emission profiles; topographic barriers; meteorological patterns; behavior of semi-volatile components; and measurement errors. Intraurban variability is often gauged by conducting measurements at a network of monitoring stations across the region of interest. While certain statistical metrics are commonly used and interpreted …

The Murray Ledger And Times, December 20, 2013, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

Free-Troposphere Ozone And Carbon Monoxide Over The North Atlantic For 2001-2011, Aditya Kumar, S. Wu, M. F. Weise, R. Honrath, R. C. Owen, D. Helmig, L. Kramer, M. Val Martin, Q. Li

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

In situ measurements of carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone (O3) at the Pico Mountain Observatory (PMO) located in the Azores, Portugal, are analyzed together with results from an atmospheric chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) and satellite remote sensing data (AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) for CO, and TES (Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer) for O3) to examine the evolution of free-troposphere CO and O3 over the North Atlantic for 2001-2011. GEOS-Chem captured the seasonal cycles for CO and O3 well but significantly underestimated the mixing ratios of CO, particularly in spring. Statistically significant (using a significance level of 0.05) decreasing trends were found for …

Promoting Excellence Within Early Care And Education Providers: A Teacher Education Program Story--Research, Jaesook L. Gilbert, Helene Arbouet Harte

Journal of Excellence in College Teaching and Learning

This paper shares the process and experience of a university community partnership to improve the quality of care and education in the region by enhancing teachers’ early childhood knowledge. A hybrid course for both university students and childcare providers, The Academy for Early Childhood Excellence sought to provide intense and supportive professional development for early care and education providers as well as access and an introduction to the university setting. The hybrid format necessitated some level of competence with technology and more emphasis on writing as a mode of communication. Some of the Academy participants, especially the more experienced and …

Pre - Service Teachers’ Perceptions Of Disability As Represented In Children’S Television Programs--Research, Laura S. Clarke, Dusty Columbia Embury, Anna Epperly, Jennifer Christensen

Journal of Excellence in College Teaching and Learning

As colleges and universities prepare pre-service teachers to teach in inclusive classrooms, it is important to understand college students’ schema of diversity. Part of creating an inclusive classroom culture is to understand how children view similarities and differences in others, and how to create a culture of acceptance. One way to create a culture of understanding is to use media representations and popular children’s television shows as a springboard for conversation and acceptance, but before pre-service teachers can use media, they have to first understand the characteristics and qualification criteria for students with disabilities, and also how the community at …

Collaborating To Meet Challenges Of Co - Teaching Common Core Standards--Research, Dottie Willis

Journal of Excellence in College Teaching and Learning

Kentucky has led the nation in adopting Common Core Standards to revitalize education for next-generation learners and schools. To improve preparation of the state’s next-generation teachers, Kentucky has also mandated reform in training student teachers. This article reviews experiences of teacher educators from four Kentucky universities that are collaborating to ensure both quality and consistency in Co-Teaching Training, a new state requirement for all P-12 cooperating teachers and university supervisors who mentor student teachers. The author reports cooperating teachers’ responses to their initial Co-Teaching Training; analyzes educators’ perceptions about a complementary relationship between Co-Teaching strategies and achievement of Common Core …

Who Edits The Editors? Snake Hill And Archaeological Reports, Al B. Wesolowsky

Northeast Historical Archaeology

A review of Snake Hill: An Investigation of a Military Cemetery from the War of 1812, edited by Susan Pfeiffer and Ronald F. Williamson, provides a coign of vantage regarding two aspects of particular concern to historical archaeologists. One is the increasing number of historical cemeteries that, because of recent legislation and a broadening of research domains, are being investiagted by archaeologists. The other, closely related, aspect is the need for strong editorial oversight in preparing for the press reports that comprise the contributions of diverse specialists. Snake Hill was a good project that resulted in a report that, while …

The General Hospital At Mount Independence: 18th-Century Health Care At A Revolutionary War Cantonment, David R. Starbuck

Northeast Historical Archaeology

The General Hospital at Mount Independence in Orwell, Vermont, has been examined in order to learn more about the configuration of an 18-century military hospital. Historical research combined with on-site excavation in 1990 exposed the foundation of a 250-foot-long building containing principally archicetural and kitchen debris. While physical remains did not reveal the layout of individual rooms, archaeological and historical evidence have nevertheless provided insights into the appearance and function of this important structure.

Building A Framework For Research: Delaware's Management Plan For Historical Archaeological Resources, Lu Ann De Cunzo, Wade P. Catts

Northeast Historical Archaeology

In 1990 the authors completed a Management Plan for Delaware's Historical Archaeological Resources. This article outlines the Management Plan's objectives and components, and presents the core of the research program for historical archaeology developed in the Plan. The Delaware Plan may suggest ideas to histroical archaeologists developing plans for other states, provinces, counties, and even cities or other municipalities. At the same time, Delaware historical archaeology can benefit from the responses to this Plan offered by our colleagues across the Northeast and beyond.

Historical Archaeology At Saybrook Point, Connecticut: Excavation And Interpretation At An Archaeological And Historical Park, Harold D. Juli

Northeast Historical Archaeology

This paper discusses the discoveries resulting from a study of 350 years of occupation at Saybrook Point, in the town of Old Saybrook, Connecticut's earliest English coastal settlement (1635). Three seasons of archaeological research (1980-1982), along with documentary sources provided information for the construction of a detailed site history. Specifically, the paper focuses on the role of archaeology in understanding growth and change within the earliest area of settlement in a small Connecticut town, as well as the interpretation of these findings in the form of an archaeological and historical park, constructed within the excavation zone.

Bones And Burial Registers: Infant Mortality In A 19th-Century Cemetery From Upper Canada, Ann Herring, Shelley Saunders, Gerry Boyce

Northeast Historical Archaeology

The fortunate conjunction of a large skeletal sample (n=576) and reliable burial records (n=1,564) for St. Thomas' Anglican Church cemetery (1821-1874) makes it possible to make inferences about patterns of infant death in 19th-century Belleville, Ontario. Analysis of both sets of data indicates that males and females were equally likely to die during infancy and that environmental factors played an important role in Belleville's mortality profile. The parish records reveal elevated risks of infant death in the summer, probably from the weanling diarrhea complex, owing to unsanitary conditions and the presence of acute infectious diseases in the town. The importance …

Thunder And Powder: May They Never Meet! Lightning Conductors At The Esplanade Powder Magazine, Quebec City, Pierre Drouin

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Archaeological excavations carried out at the Esplanade powder magazine in Quebec City have revealed the remains of three successive lighting conductor systems. These 19th-century remains are closely examined in the light of contemporary literature and compared with the military instructions concerning the subject. Their presence highlights the efforts made by military engineers of the time to safeguard contents, buildings, and people from the hazards inherent to the storage of explosive materials in powder magazines.

Signs Of Autonomy: Facilitating Independence And Inquiry In Deaf Science Classrooms, Sami Kahn, Allan Feldman, Michele L. Cooke

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) persons are underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). One of the major barriers to STEM careers is DHH students’ extremely low college graduation rates. While social and literacy barriers play a critical role in this phenomenon, student autonomy has also been cited as a major contributor. DHH students have been characterized as dependent learners, a learning style possibly reinforced by reliance on adults for disproportionate amounts of information, as well as a tendency of deaf educators to teach in highly structured, explicit manners. Dependent learning styles can impede autonomy …

Paraeducators Transition From Silent Partners To Collaborators With Science Teachers In Urban Middle Schools, Kimberly Staples Ph.D.

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Within middle school classrooms a diverse body of students require specialized instruction and science teachers with unique abilities to implement a reform-based science curriculum. To achieve the goal of success for all, students who are English language leaners and with exceptionalities, such as learning disabilities, and emotional and behavioral disorders, are often assigned paraeducators to support science learning. However, professional development often focuses on immersing paraeducators through a broad model of curricular modifications and general support strategies. This study reports findings of a three-year professional development project for middle level science teachers and paraeducators designed to increase science conceptual understanding …

Sickle Cell Disease Erythrocyte Stiffness And Cytoadhesion Investigated Via Atomic Force Microscopy, Jamie L. Maciaszek

Doctoral Dissertations

The biomechanical properties of red blood cells (RBCs), including increased stiffness and abnormal cytoadherence, are integral components in the cascade of events resulting to vasoocclusive episodes (VOEs) in sickle cell disease (SCD). VOEs are the main cause of morbidity in SCD and sickle cell trait (SCT). Using experimental techniques based on atomic force microscopy (AFM), we studied the stiffness and adhesion of RBCs from SCD patients and from subjects with SCT. We found that SCD and SCT RBCs are three-fold stiffer than normal RBCs. Further, a ten-fold increase in the stiffness of sickled RBCs was measured upon deoxygenation. In an …

A Tree-Ring Based Reconstruction Of Logan River Streamflow In Northern Utah, Eric B. Allen, Tammy M. Rittenour, R. Justin Derose, Matthew F. Bekker, Roger Kjelgren, Brendan M. Buckley

Wasatch Dendroclimatology Research

[1] We created six new tree-ring chronologies in northern Utah, which were used with preexisting chronologies from Utah and western Wyoming to reconstruct mean annual flow for the Logan River, the largest tributary of the regionally important Bear River. Two reconstruction models were developed, a “Local” model that incorporated two Rocky Mountain juniper chronologies located within the basin, and a “Regional” model that also included limber pine and pinyon pine chronologies from a larger area. The Local model explained 48.2% of the variability in the instrumental record and the juniper chronologies better captured streamflow variability than Douglas-fir collected within the …

Differential Diagnosis: Approaches And Pitfalls - A Pediatric Case-Based Session For 3rd Year Medical Students, Zev Waldman, Mary Ottolini

E-Learning Modules

This ninety minute session seeks to provide a systematic framework for medical students relatively new to the differential diagnosis process. Via a combined lecture/case-based approach, the session presents basic clinical reasoning concepts and specific heuristics to guide the differential process followed by an opportunity to apply the tools to simulated pediatric cases. It also introduces the concept of cognitive biases and presents strategies to mitigate their effects. The session has been successfully used with third year medical students during the first week of their pediatrics clerkship. However, with minor adaptation, a similar approach could be used at other levels of …

Listening To Primary Schools: Australian Health And Physical Education (Hpe)., Tj Lynch

Plymouth Institute of Education

This research investigated Australian Government Primary School Principal’s perceptions of a University Pre-service Teacher Education course where the graduate teacher is qualified as a generalist primary classroom teacher and a Health and Physical Education specialist. Research suggests that the optimum time for children to learn and refine their motor skills and to be introduced to positive HPE experiences is during preschool and early primary school years. The research data was gathered using surveys completed by 138 government primary school principal participants in the state of Victoria, a large number considering the demanding role of school principal. There were two ethical …

The Minutes Of The Marshall University Staff Council Meeting, December 2013, Marshall University Staff Council

Staff Council Minutes

No abstract provided.

Ambientalismos De La Vida Cotidiana: Políticas De Coalición, Reproducción Social Y Justicia Ambiental, Giovanna Di Chiro

Environmental Studies Faculty Works

This paper examines the intersectional, coalition politics forged by activists in US environmental justice and women's rights organisations. This coalitional politics articulates environmental and feminist concerns and rejects the limitations of a narrow-focused politics in favour of a more strategic, relational vision of social and environmental change. Framed by the Marxist-feminist concept of “social reproduction”, the analysis addresses the complex ways that globalised capitalism has transformed state and corporate responsibilities for social reproduction. The neoliberal policies of privatisation and deregulation have eroded the assurance of a liveable wage, affordable healthcare, decent education, breathable air, and clean water. Drawing on several …

Molecular Hydrogen Regulated Star Formation In Cosmological Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Simulations, Robert Thompson, Kentaro Nagamine, Jason Jaacks, Jun-Hwan Choi

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Some observations have shown that star formation (SF) correlates tightly with the presence of molecular hydrogen (H₂); therefore, it is important to investigate its implication on galaxy formation in a cosmological context. In the present work, we implement a sub-grid model (hereafter H₂-SF model) that tracks the H₂ mass fraction within our cosmological smoothed particle hydrodynamics code GADGET-3 by using an equilibrium analytic model of Krumholz et al. This model allows us to regulate the SF in our simulation by the local abundance of H₂ rather than the total cold gas density, which naturally …