Digital Commons Network^™

Challenge-Based Learning & Steam Curriculum, Diana Lockwood

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

STEAM education is being integrated into elementary schools as a way to engage more students in creativity, hands-on learning, and problem-based learning also referred to as Challenge-Based-Learning (CBL). This article focuses on elementary educators’ curriculum design for STEAM and presenting students with open-ended questions phrased as a challenge as a way to raise student interest and achievement (DeJarnette, 2018; Hunter-Doniger, 2018). When students received challenges to solve, they felt more open to sharing their ideas since there was more than one potential right answer (DeJarnette, 2018; Drake, 2012). When implementing CBL, teachers act as facilitators using a constructivist approach as …

Creative Learning With Music And Mathematics: Reflections On Interdisciplinary Collaborations, Graham Johnson, Alesia M. Moldavan

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

Culturally responsive content, accessible and inclusive tools, and meaningful interdisciplinary tasks can aid in developing equitable and creative learning environments. Music and mathematics are ideal disciplines for interdisciplinary creative learning. In this article, we reflect on our experiences engaging in interdisciplinary music and mathematics tasks with preservice teachers. In particular, we highlight specific efforts taken to design and implement a creative music and mathematics workshop for use in a mathematics methods course. Guided by these experiences, we offer examples of tools and practices that have helped preservice teachers collaborate, engage in inquiry, improvise, develop empathy, and take intellectual and social …

Students’ Perceptions On Blended Synchronous Learning In The Postcrisis Era, An Minh Ngoc Pham, Huong Ngoc Nguyen, Truong Nhut Huynh, Cat Tuong Nguyen Ngo, Nghi Bao Nguyen Le

Essays in Education

With the severe impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the educational systems have to be reformed and evolved. Blended synchronous learning has become an attractive tendency in education worldwide as the technology has mushroomed recently and attracts a vast number of users and researchers. Therefore, the current study was conducted to investigate students’ overall perceptions of blended synchronous learning as well as its benefits and challenges. 163 participants in the study have experienced ENT courses in a blended synchronous learning environment for 105 hours within 7 weeks. The instrument employed in the quantitative phase was 27 items adapted from studies by …

Solvatochromic Behavior Of 2,7-Disubstituted Sila- And Germafluorenes, Shelby J. Jarrett-Noland, William Mcconnell, Janet Braddock-Wilking, Cynthia M. Dupureur

Educator Preparation & Leadership Faculty Works

Push–pull dyes exhibit intramolecular charge transfer behavior, which due to changes in the dipole moment upon excitation, is the origin of their sensitivity to the environment. Such compounds are of interest as probes for bioimaging and as biosensors to monitor cellular dynamics and molecular interactions. Desirable biological probes absorb in the visible region, have high extinction coefficients, high quantum yield and excellent photostability. Fluorophores with scaffolding that can be used to tune and optimize solvatochromic behavior are of particular interest. Here, we investigate the environmental sensitivity of a small library of highly fluorescent 2,7-disubstituted sila- and germafluorenes. Density functional theory …

Rank And Analysis Several Solutions Of Healthcare Waste To Achieve Cost Effectiveness And Sustainability Using Neutrosophic Mcdm Model, Ahmed Abdelhafeez, Hoda K. Mohamed, Nariman A. Khalil

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

Managing healthcare waste (HCWTT) from healthcare facilities is difficult. It's high up on the list of health concerns. This growth in HCWTT has been especially visible in recent years, as the quantity of medical services available has increased. Because of the potential danger, this garbage poses to people and the planet, it must be properly disposed of. Because of ineffective waste management practices, inadequate financial resources, and a lack of adequate facilities, HCWT administration is especially crucial in developing nations. Reducing HCWT via appropriate treatment is important for the area's financial and environmental health. In order to solve single-valued neutrosophic …

Space-Time Conflict Spheres For Constrained Multi-Agent Motion Planning, Anirudh Chari '24

Distinguished Student Work

Multi-agent motion planning (MAMP) is a critical challenge in applications such as connected autonomous vehicles and multi-robot systems. In this paper, we propose a space- time conflict resolution approach for MAMP. We formulate the problem using a novel, flexible sphere-based discretization for trajectories. Our approach leverages a depth-first con- flict search strategy to provide the scalability of decoupled approaches while maintaining the computational guarantees of coupled approaches. We compose procedures for evading discretization error and adhering to kinematic constraints in generated solutions. Theoretically, we prove the continuous-time feasibility and formulation-space completeness of our algorithm. Experimentally, we demonstrate that our algorithm …

Dft-Aided Machine Learning-Based Discovery Of Magnetism In Fe-Based Bimetallic Chalcogenides, Dharmendra Pant, Suresh Pokharel, Subhasish Mandal, Dukka Kc, Ranjit Pati

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

With the technological advancement in recent years and the widespread use of magnetism in every sector of the current technology, a search for a low-cost magnetic material has been more important than ever. The discovery of magnetism in alternate materials such as metal chalcogenides with abundant atomic constituents would be a milestone in such a scenario. However, considering the multitude of possible chalcogenide configurations, predictive computational modeling or experimental synthesis is an open challenge. Here, we recourse to a stacked generalization machine learning model to predict magnetic moment (µB) in hexagonal Fe-based bimetallic chalcogenides, FexAyB; A represents Ni, Co, Cr, …

Evaluating Differences Between Ground-Based And Satellite-Derived Measurements Of Urban Heat: The Role Of Land Cover Classes In Portland, Oregon And Washington, D.C., Vivek Shandas, Yasuyo Makido, Aakash Nath Upraity

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The distinction between satellite-based land surface temperature (LST) and air temperature has become an increasingly important part of managing urban heat islands. While the preponderance of urban heat research relies on LST, the emergence of a growing infrastructure of publicly available consumer oriented, ground-based sensor networks has offered an alternative for characterizing microscale differences in temperatures. Recent evidence suggests large differences between LST and air temperatures, yet discerning the reason for these differences between satellite-derived measurements of urban heat islands (UHI) and ground-based measurements of air temperature remains largely unresolved. In this study, we draw on an unusually robust and …

Policies, Projections, And The Social Cost Of Carbon: Results From The Dice-2023 Model, Lint Barrage, William D. Nordhaus

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

The present study examines the assumptions, modeling structure, and preliminary results of DICE-2023, the revised Dynamic Integrated Model of Climate and the Economy (DICE), updated to 2023. The revision contains major changes in the carbon and climate modules, the treatment of non-industrial greenhouse gases, discount rates, as well as updates on all the major components. The major changes are a significant reduction in the target for the optimal (cost-beneficial) temperature path, a lower cost of reaching the 2 °C target, an analysis of the impact of the Paris Accord, and a major increase in the estimated social cost of carbon.

Rank And Analysis Several Solutions Of Healthcare Waste To Achieve Cost Effectiveness And Sustainability Using Neutrosophic Mcdm Model, Ahmed Abdelhafeez, Hoda K. Mohamed, Nariman A. Khalil

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

Managing healthcare waste (HCWTT) from healthcare facilities is difficult. It's high up on the list of health concerns. This growth in HCWTT has been especially visible in recent years, as the quantity of medical services available has increased. Because of the potential danger, this garbage poses to people and the planet, it must be properly disposed of. Because of ineffective waste management practices, inadequate financial resources, and a lack of adequate facilities, HCWT administration is especially crucial in developing nations. Reducing HCWT via appropriate treatment is important for the area's financial and environmental health. In order to solve single-valued neutrosophic …

Sootlib: A Soot Model Library For Combustion Simulation, Victoria B. Stephens, Joshua Bedwell, Alex J. Josephson, Keturah Oldham, David O. Lignell

Faculty Publications

Soot formation in combustion is an important process that affects radiative heat transfer, flame temperatures, and emissions with health and environmental impacts. Soot formation involves complex chemistry for nucleation, growth, oxidation, and coagulation processes. The soot particles vary widely in size and accurate modeling requires representation of the particle size distribution (PSD). Modeling soot is not trivial, and is only one of several physical processes active in combustion systems. This paper presents a software package called SootLib, which is an open-source library for modeling soot formation and other aerosol systems. SootLib is written in C++, is documented with Doxygen, and …

Did The Covid-19 Pandemic Reshape Nonprofit Service Delivery?, Gregory A. Smith

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study employed mixed methods (explanatory sequential design) to assess and describe service delivery changes that emerged among public charities in the Virginia piedmont region due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was administered to 175 nonprofit leaders (mostly chief executives and service/program officers). Survey data were analyzed via descriptive statistics to identify the incidence and persistence of 14 specific changes. Such changes were grouped into 8 dependent variables that denoted patterns of service delivery change. Inferential statistics revealed significant differences or predictive relationships for several independent variables, including organizational and respondent attributes. In the second phase of the …

Comparing Computational Design Methods For A Type 2 Diabetes Medication, Andrew Voss

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is a promising target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes because activating this receptor improves insulin sensitivity and helps manage glucose levels in patients. However, currently approved drugs that activate this receptor have side effects, such as weight gain, weakening of bones, and cardiac failure, which have limited or halted their use. The goal of my study is to compare computational methods that estimate the binding affinity of compounds to PPARγ. To achieve this, I will estimate the binding affinities of compounds that have published experimental binding affinities to determine if the estimated binding …

An Acoustic Analysis Of French Vowel Phoneme Substitutions In Native English Speakers, Madeline G. Strah

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

Learning a second language is very difficult and may require years of practice to reach fluency. However, theories like the Speech Learning Model (SLM), tell us that regardless of years of practice, perfect pronunciation of sounds that are absent in a speaker’s first language is difficult, especially if the sound is relatively similar to one in the speaker’s first language. For instance, the French vowel sound /y/, in the word sucre ‘sugar’, is absent in American English, and is very similar to the sound /u/, like in the word soupe ‘soup’. These form a minimal pair where the sounds …

Chiral Nanoparticles For Analysis Using Capillary Electrophoresis, Sierra M. Paske

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

This project will develop and introduce novel methods for the separation and analysis of enantiomers. Chiral separation of enantiomers is crucial in the area of drug development where two enantiomers of a compound can have varying effects as pharmaceuticals. Many pharmaceutical compounds or targets are chiral, with each enantiomer producing different biological responses in humans. For this reason, the Food and Drug Administration requires that each enantiomer of a chiral pharmaceutical be isolated and analyzed. Analytical and preparative scale chiral separations are thus critically important.

Chiral compounds have virtually identical chemical and physical properties, meaning separating their enantiomers for analysis …

Inverting For Earth Structure Using Ocean Tides Loading The Surface, Eleanor Serviss

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

The fundamental question of geophysics is simple: What is inside the Earth? Because we cannot physically travel there, we rely on indirect methods such as mapping the strength of Earth’s gravity or studying how fast earthquakes travel through Earth’s layers. Most of our knowledge of Earth structure comes measuring the two earthquake velocity, the pressure-wave velocity and shear-wave velocity. In order to turn these two velocities into material parameters such as density, shear modulus, and modulus, we need to make assumptions about Earth structure. These assumptions come in the form of scaling and combining the velocities to recover the elastic …

Cervical Disk Rupture In A Collegiate Football Player: A Case Study, Hannah Kuracina Mx., Karl Reisig Dr., Benjamin Smith Do.

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

Background: Cervical disc herniations (CDH) commonly occur between the ages of 51 and 60. Research suggests that less than 2% of patients with CDH were male and between the age of 20-29. The NFL reported 9 cases of CDH, from a singular traumatic event between 2001 and 2011. This case study examines a collegiate-aged male, a demographic not commonly associated with CDH. The typical presentation of CDH includes neck pain with unilateral numbness and tingling. CDH in young healthy adults is unusual and the clinical presentation, in this case, differs from what is commonly reported. This patient had no neurological …

The Future Of Dna Repatriation: Interaction, Dialogue And Creating Trust, Anna-Marie David

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

This project sought to understand the struggles currently faced with the repatriation of human remains using the United States and NAGPRA as the basis for understanding the cultural conflicts associated with the process. The use of DNA in repatriation is a widely discussed and argued topic in bioarcheology today and the ethical ambiguity is a contentious matter for government institutions, tribal authorities, cultural managers, and communities throughout the world. To some cultures the use of DNA analysis, which by design are invasive procedure, is a further invasion that goes against their cultural foundations. Excluding the views of the collection of …

Characterizing Particle Bed Stratigraphy As A Function Of Particle Size In An Airless, Microgravity Environment, Gillian Gomer, Michael Fraser, Anthony Meola, Raquel Guzman

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

Asteroids and other small planetary bodies are covered in a loose, dynamic layer of multi-sized dusty particles. We are focused on developing methods to further understand this surface regolith behavior to inform future landing missions on these small bodies for resource collection. The Strata-1 experiment was designed to study granular behavior in a passive, microgravity, airless environment. These conditions, simulating that of an asteroid’s surface, were attained by installing Strata-1 aboard the International Space Station for 347 days. In this experiment, we took images of red, green, and blue multi-sized glass shards within a tube to better understand their stratigraphy. …

“I Give The Kids My Warty Gourd Story”: A Qualitative Study On Public Health Nurses’ Experiences With Human Papillomavirus (Hpv) Vaccination In Montana, Juthika Jayendra Thaker

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

Approximately 35,000 HPV-attributable cancers are diagnosed in the United States annually. Rural communities face a higher burden of HPV-attributed infections and cancers compared to urban areas due to lower vaccination coverage. The CDC recommends a 2-dose or a 3-dose HPV vaccine series depending on the age of the initial vaccination. Only 53% of eligible adolescents in Montana had completed the HPV vaccine series. While research on vaccine delivery systems has focused mainly on private clinics, rural adolescents rely on public health facilities for their immunization needs. A thorough understanding of public health nurses’ role in improving community vaccination rates will …

Ruminal Proteolysis In Forages With Distinct Endopeptidases Activities, G. Pichard, C. Tapia, R. Larrain

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Improving livestock efficiency in utilisation of nitrogen resources continues to be a major environmental and economic objective. Zhu et al. (1999) have shown that plant endopeptidases are activated as a response to cutting stress. Previous work in our laboratory explored over 300 entries of forage genotypes and found a broad diversity in enzymatic activity by means of hydrolysis in gelatine and direct autolysis assays in forage tissues. The objective of this work was to assess if the species previously identified as having high or low endopeptidase activity, would behave consistently when exposed to ruminal microbial proteolysis.

Effects Of Particle Size In Forage Samples For Protein Breakdown Studies, G. Pichard, C. Tapia

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Coupling ruminal processes of hydrolysis and synthesis continues to be a research issue where more progress is needed. This requires the development of good protein assessment methods, particularly when representing the breakdown processes that occur in fresh pastures eaten by herbivores. Laboratory analyses need to deal with small and homogeneous samples, but the mechanical reduction of particle size may not reflect the actual digestion kinetics occurring when the original fresh forage is consumed. Such physical traits may alter the release of non-structural compounds and the penetration of microbial enzymes (Boudon et al., 2002). The objective of this work was …

A New System For The Evaluation Of The Fermentation Quality Of Silages, K. Weiß, E. Kaiser

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Depending on the content of nitrate in green forage, the pattern of fermentation products in silages differ significantly (Weiß & Kaiser, 2001). The systems, which are now common in practice for evaluating the quality of silage fermentation, characterise fermentation quality incorrectly because the evaluation is influenced by the chemical composition of green forage. The aim of this work was to derive an evaluation system for fermentation quality, which is independent from the chemical composition of green forage.

Prediction Of Indigestible Ndf Content Of Grass And Legume Silages By Nirs, L. Nyholm, M. Rinne, M. Hellämäki, P. Huhtanen, J. Nousiainen

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The future feed evaluation systems based on mechanistic digestion models require reliable estimates of forage digestible and indigestible NDF content (DNDF and INDF). The objective of this study was to examine the potential of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) in predicting INDF content of grass and legume silages.

Analysis Of Silage Fermentation Characteristics Using Transflectance Measurements By Near Infrared Spectroscopy, A. Martínez, A. Soldado, R. Garcia, D. Sánchez, B. De La Roza-Delgado

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The fermentation end products as lactic acid, volatile fatty acids and ammonia-nitrogen, are important indicators of the efficiency of silage fermentation and are closely related to nutritive value of them (Jaster, 1995). Drying is problematic in the case of silage as many fermentation products are volatile and may get lost during the drying process. This may be a reason why NIR technology is being little used for the evaluation of silage fermentation characteristics. The feasibility of using near infrared transflectance spectroscopy to evaluate the content in fermentation end products of grass and maize fresh silage was investigated in this study.

Development Of A Method For The Fast And Complete Assessment Of Quality Characteristics In Undried Grass Silages By Means Of An Nir-Diode Array Spectrometer, H. Gibaud, C. Paul, J. M. Greef, B. Ruser

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Traditionally, the determination of grass silage is very time consuming and needs a lot of manpower and chemicals. The advantages of conventional laboratory NIRS instruments are well known but their disadvantage lies in their lacking suitability for on-farm use. A new type of spectrometer based on diode arrays may be used for this purpose. However, these new instruments still need to be calibrated for an accurate estimate of the fermentative and nutritive value of wet and unchopped grass silage.

A Simple Method For The Correction Of Fermentation Losses Measured In Laboratory Silos, F. Weissbach

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Dry matter (DM) losses caused by formation of gaseous fermentation products can be measured by different methods. The most common method (A) is measuring the difference between the DM input and output of a silo. Other methods are based on the measurement of the fermentation gases which spontaneously leave the silo, either directly by collecting them (B) in a special absorbent like KOH or, much more easily, by weighing the filled silo at the beginning and the end of the fermentation process (C). The figures obtained by B and C are substantially smaller than those by A. This difference represents …

Prediction Of Red Clover Content In Mixed Swards By Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy, B. Deprez, D. Stilmant, C. Clément, C. Decamps, A. Peeters

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Because of the legume fixation capacity, their high protein content, digestibility and intake characteristics, more and more attention is paid to grassland clover content. In field experiments, clover content must often be determined, for example to quantify nitrogen flux or the best practices to manage such species (Stilmant et al., 2004). However hand sorting of clover and grass, even if accurate, is time-consuming and has a high labour cost. In comparison, accuracy of visual estimation of clover content, directly in the field, varies according to training and experience. Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) has been proposed as a method for …

Preserving The Patients' Lifeline: Reducing Complications By Adopting A Vascular Access Assessment Improvement Process, Ana Lopez

Providence Nursing Research Conference 2023 – Present

No abstract provided.

Intake And Milk Production Of Lactating Dairy Cows Grazing Diverse Forage Mixtures Over Two Grazing Seasons, K. Soder, M. A. Sanderson, J. L. Stack, L. Muller

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Voluntary intake and stocking rate are key determinants of animal performance on pasture. Greater plant diversity in grassland plant communities has been linked to increased primary production, greater stability in response to disturbance, and reduced weed pressure. Thus, increasing plant diversity may be one approach to improving animal productivity. An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of forage diversity on intake and milk production of lactating dairy cows over two grazing seasons.