Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Motivation For Achievement And Attitudes Toward Mathematics Instruction In A Required Calculus Course At The Norwegian University Of Science And Technology, Donna Sundre, Carol Barry, Vidar Gynnild, Erin Tangen Ostgard

Donna L. Sundre

This study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) examines students’ learning goals and attitudes toward mathematics in a first-year calculus course in undergraduate engineering education. Achievement motivation research using the Achievement Goal Questionnaire (AGQ) is advanced from current literature with two additions: (1) a course specific context using introductory college calculus students, and (2) participation of Norwegian students. Pre- and posttest measures of attitudes indicate that students do change learning goals over time, unfortunately opposite to the instructors’ aspirations. A significant increase in “Mastery Avoidance” and “Work Avoidance” was accompanied with a drop in “Mastery Approach” and …

An Investigation Of The Dayton Regional Stem School Public-Private Partnerships, Kimberly S. Poole

CCE Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation study documents in-depth the exploration of the Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) between the Dayton Regional STEM School (DRSS) and their industry partners as well as the establishment of a framework for evaluating and assessing PPPs. The public-private partnership agreements were studied in order to answer the over-arching research question: How is an effective public-private partnership established, assessed, and evaluated in education? A descriptive case study methodology was used to study DRSS' public-private partnership agreements to determine if goals and objectives were established and whether or not the partnerships met those goals and objectives. This case study also included …

Predicting High-Stakes Tests Of Math Achievement Using A Group-Administered Rti Instrument: Validating Skills Measured By The Monitoring Instructional Responsiveness: Math, Jeremy Thomas Coles

Doctoral Dissertations

Three universal screeners and nine progress monitoring probes from the Monitoring Instructional Responsiveness: Math (MIR:M), a silent, group-administered math assessment designed for implementation with an RTI Model, were administered to 223 fifth-grade students. The growth parameters of the overall MIR:M composite and two global composites (math calculation and math reasoning) identified significant variation in student growth, within significant linear and quadratic trajectories. However, there were significant differences in the nature of the growth trajectories that have applied educational implications. In addition, growth parameters across the three composites provided significant predictive potential when using the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) Achievement …

Analysis Of Semi-Distributed And Global Hydrological Models In The Central Tropical Basins Of The Gulf Of Mexico To The Effects Of Extreme Hydrometeorological Phenomena, Sara Patricia Ibarra Zavaleta, Mariana Castañeda González, Rabindranarth Romero López, Eduardo Castillog Onzalez, Alberto Brando Báez Camarena, Annie Poulin, Mathias Glaus, Robert Hausler

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

In the last years extreme hydrometeorological phenomena have increased in number and intensity affecting the inhabitants of various regions, an example of these effects are the central basins of the Gulf of Mexico (CBGM) that they have been affected by 55.2% with floods and especially the state of Veracruz (1999-2013), leaving economic, social and environmental losses. Mexico currently lacks sufficient hydrological studies for the measurement of volumes in rivers, since is convenient to create a hydrological model (HM) suited to the quality and quantity of the geographic and climatic information that is reliable and affordable. Therefore this research compares the …

Application Of 1d And 2d Numerical Models For Assessing And Visualizing Effectiveness Of Natural Flood Management (Nfm) Measures, Sohan Ghimire, Mark Wilkinson, Gillian Donaldson-Selby

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

Natural Flood Management (NFM) techniques that include alteration, restoration or use of landscape features, have emerged as a novel way of reducing flood risk in Scotland. NFM aims to reduce the peak flood downstreamincreasing the time available to prepare for flood. Water storage ponds are very effective for this purpose. The aim of the paper is to present findings of a modelling approach to floodinundation and risk assessment, and its application for assessing the effectiveness of wetland storage ponds as NFM measures. The study was undertaken in a rural catchment (Tarland Burn, area ~74 km2) located in Aberdeenshire, north-east Scotland. …

Flood Resilience Assessment In Urban Drainage Systems Through Multi-Objective Optimisation, Carlos Martínez-Cano, Beheshtah Toloh, Arlex Sanchez-Torres, Zoran Vojinović, Damir Brdjanovic

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

In future years, economic development, urbanisation and heavy rainfall events are expected to increase in urban areas, in particular in developing countries. It is well known that urban development has a strong impact on the water cycle such as increase of flood peaks and volume, decrease of base flow, hydraulic stress and water pollution. Resilience measures are still needed to improve urban flood risk, the possibilities to provide indicators that could be used to characterize urban resilience related to flooding is outmost importance. The work described here presents an optimisation framework for urban drainage rehabilitation that incorporates in the decision …

An Integrated Approach To Simulate Flooding Due To River Dike Breach, Yohannis Birhanu Tadesse, Peter Fröhle

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

This paper presents an integrated approach that enables the simultaneous modeling of dike breaching process and flood propagation. The dike breaching process is modelled with a simple breach model implemented into a 2-dimensional hydrodynamic flood model – Telemac2D. Telemac2D models the propagation of the arising flood into the hinterland. The breach model generalizes dike breaching process in two general stages. In the first stage, dike breaching is predominantly vertical with limited lateral breach growth; and in the second stage breach grows only laterally. The breach model requires breach location, breach duration, and length and axis of dike affected by the …

Stability Criterion For A Flooded Human Body Under Various Ground Slopes, Junqiang Xia, Roger Falconer, Peng Guo, Anchuan Gu

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

Extreme flood events often lead to heavy casualties, with flood risk to humans varying with the flow conditions, the body attributes, and the ground slopes. Therefore, it is important to propose an appropriate stability criterion for a flooded human body under various ground slopes. In this study, a formula for the incipient velocity of a flooded human body at toppling instability was derived, based on a mechanics-based analysis. The effect of body buoyancy and the influence of a non-uniform upstream velocity profile acting on the flooded human body under a sloping ground were considered in the formula derivation. 186 tests …

Modeling The Effects Sea Level Rise On Flooding In The Lower Niger River, Zahrah Naankwat Musa, Ioana Popescu, Arthur E. Mynett

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

The Niger River bifurcates into the Nun and Forcados rivers as it flows through the Niger delta, with the Forcados River taking 46% of the discharge and the Nun River taking 54%. Within the last fifteen years the Niger delta coastal zone has experienced peak floods between September and October due to intense rains from upstream. Many studies including the United Nations Framework on Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) indicate that the Niger delta region could be inundated with water due to the effects of climate change. According to local experts, the Niger delta is subsiding at over 25mm/annum; a …

Regional Versus Physically-Based Methods For Flood Inundation Modelling In Data Scarce Areas: An Application To The Blue Nile, Kun Yan, Florian Pappenberger, Yakob M. Umer, Dimitri P. Solomatine, Giuliano Di Baldassarre

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

One of the main obstacles in mapping flood hazard in data scarce areas is the difficulty in estimating the design flood, i.e. river discharge corresponding to a given return period. This exercise can be carried out using regionalization techniques, which are based on flood data of regions with similar hydro-climatic conditions, or employing physically based model cascades. In this context, we compared the flood extents maps derived for a river reach of the Blue Nile following two alternative methods: i) regional envelope curve (REC), whereby design floods (e.g. 1-in-20 and 1-in-100 year flood peaks) are derived from African envelope curves …

Bayesian Model Averaging Approach For Reducing Urban Flooding Damage Estimation Uncertainty, Vincenza Notaro, Chiara Maria Fontanazza, Gabriele Freni

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

Uncertainty analysis is useful to define the level of reliability of a modelling application, but operational methods are needed to identify the best modelling structure for a specific problem based on uncertainty reduction criteria. One interesting example is given by flood damage estimation problem where different possible modelling solution and flood damage estimation can be used depending on the case study. Past literature showed that several modelling structures may be equally reliable in terms of calibration ability but they may produce different uncertainty levels. The use of the Bayesian approach for uncertainty analysis has been stimulated by its rigorous theoretical …

Flash Flood Simulation Using Geomorphic Unit Hydrograph Method: Case Study Of Headwater Catchment Of Xiapu River Basin, China, Dawei Zhang, Jin Quan, Fan Wang, Xiaoyan He

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

The flash flood refers to flood produced by heavy local rainfalls and often occurs in mountainous areas. It is characterized by a quick rise of water level causing a great threat to the lives of those exposed. Many countries and regions face the threat of flash floods. However, some traditional hydrological models can hardly simulate the flash flood process well due to the lack of hydrological data and the insufficient understanding of complicated runoff mechanism in mountainous and hilly areas. According to this condition, a new hydrological model based on the framework of Xinanjiang model, widely used in humid and …

A Probabilistic Tsunami Model For Chile, Vaclav Rara, Cristina Arango, Petr Puncochar, Goran Trendafiloski, Chris Ewing, Adam Podlaha, Deepak Vatvani, Maarten Van Ormondt

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

In disaster-prone regions such as Chile, catastrophe models help (re)insurers to understand and quantify the risks facing their businesses. The 2010 (M8.8) Maule (Chile) earthquake highlighted the need for quantifying losses not only from primary perils (in this case earthquake) but also from secondary perils such as tsunamis, which contribute to the overall event losses but are not often modelled. This paper presents a new catastrophe model for Chile developed by Impact Forecasting (IF) in collaboration with Aon Benfield Research partners. The model has the capability to model losses due to earthquake (ground-shaking) and induced tsunamis along the Chilean coast …

Characterization Of Waste Anesthetic Gas Exposures To Veterinary Workers In The Tampa Bay Area, Kyle Vogel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Veterinarians routinely conduct surgical operations on animals while veterinary technicians administer anesthetic gas to sedate the animal prior to an operation. One commonly used anesthetic agent in veterinary clinics is isoflurane. Veterinary workers have the potential to be exposed to this gas during surgical operations. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) does not have a specific Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) for isoflurane, however The National Institutes for Health (NIH) does advise that workers should not be exposed to isoflurane in concentrations exceeding 2 parts per million (ppm) for an 8 hour Time Weighted Average (TWA).

Animal clinics vary in …

Assessing College Students' Understanding Of Acid Base Chemistry Concepts, Yanjun Wan

All Dissertations

Typically most college curricula include three acid base models: Arrhenius', Bronsted-Lowry's, and Lewis'. Although Lewis' acid base model is generally thought to be the most sophisticated among these three models, and can be further applied in reaction mechanisms, most general chemistry curricula either do not include Lewis' acid base model, or quickly mention it at the end of the acid base chapter, because of the concern that Lewis' model may confuse general chemistry students (Shaffer 2006). While such a disconnection in curriculum might put students to disadvantage as they try to construct solid and coherent acid base mental models, there …

Mapcores 2013-2014 Assessment Report, Kristen Nairn, Pamela L. Bacon, Jim Crumley, Yu Zhang

MapCores Faculty Publications

This is a report showing the assessment results for the MapCores (MAthematics, Physics, COmputer science REsearch Scholars) program at the College of Saint Benedict. Started in 2009, MapCores is a cohort-based program designed to increase women's interest and achievement in mathematics, physics, computer science and engineering. The report was submitted for the National Science Foundation grant number 0965705.

Web-Based Student Peer Review: A Research Summary, Edward F. Gehringer

Edward F Gehringer

Interest in Web-based peer-review systems dates back nearly 20 years. Systems were built to let students give feedback to other students, mainly to help them improve their writing. But students are not necessarily effective peer reviewers. Left to their own devices, they will submit cursory reviews, which are not very helpful to their peers. Techniques have been developed to improve the quality of reviews. Calibration is one such technique. Students are asked to assess samples of writing that have previously been assessed by experts. Students must submit an evaluation “close enough” to the experts’ before they are allowed to review …

Fema Region Iii Coastal Flood Study - Hampton Roads Adaptation Forum, Robin Danforth

March 28, 2014: Addressing Current and Future Vulnerability through Floodplain Management

No abstract provided.

Using Art To Assess Environmental Education Outcomes, Ami G. Flowers, John P. Carroll, Gary T. Green, Lincoln R. Larson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Construction of developmentally appropriate tools for assessing the environmental attitudes and awareness of young learners has proven to be challenging. Art-based assessments that encourage creativity and accommodate different modes of expression may be a particularly useful complement to conventional tools (e.g. surveys), but their efficacy and feasibility across diverse contexts has not been adequately explored. To examine the potential utility of integrating art into evaluations of environmental education outcomes, we adapted an existing drawing prompt and corresponding grading rubric to assess the environmental attitudes and awareness of children (ages 6–12) at summer camps in Athens, GA, USA (n = …

An Information Security Control Assessment Methodology For Organizations, Angel Rafael Otero

CCE Theses and Dissertations

In an era where use and dependence of information systems is significantly high, the threat of incidents related to information security that could jeopardize the information held by organizations is more and more serious. Alarming facts within the literature point to inadequacies in information security practices, particularly the evaluation of information security controls in organizations. Research efforts have resulted in various methodologies developed to deal with the information security controls assessment problem. A closer look at these traditional methodologies highlights various weaknesses that can prevent an effective information security controls assessment in organizations. This dissertation develops a methodology that addresses …

Infrastructure Planning Through Geosocial Intelligence: Using Twitter As A Platform For Rapid Assessment And Civic Co-Management During Flooding In Jakarta, Tomas Holderness, Katina Michael, Etienne Turpin

SMART Infrastructure Facility - Papers

The ability to collect data using sensor-based technologies is increasing within a public technical means. As governments in rapidly-urbanising developing nations seek to address the climatic, social and economic challenges of the 21st century, there is a progressive requirement to map and articulate civil infrastructure. When a local government needs to proactively react to impending and disruptive phenomena they increasingly look to data and technology to help them manage and respond accordingly. Mobile social media, in a citizens-as-sensors paradigm, offers the potential to collect data with which to advance our capacity to understand and promote resilience of cities to both …

Risk Assessment Of Waterborne Cryptosporidium, Victoria Norma Ochoa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In an effort to update the risk assessment of waterborne Cryptosporidium an additional and more complete human dose-response dataset of the parasite was used to calculate the risk of infection. The complete data studied contains larger human outcomes than the initial prior risk assessment evaluated by Haas et. al. in 1999. Quantitative analysis of the complete dose-response indicates that it no longer follows the Exponential Model used to estimate the risk for the initial data. The complete dataset appears to provide a better fit with the Beta-Poisson Model and even a dose independent constant risk model, which shows a considerable …

Refining Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Community Metrics For The Assessment Of Headwater Streams In New York State, Brian T. Duffy

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The River Continuum Concept describes the structural and functional shift that occurs from sensitive headwater streams to the lowest reaches of large, non-wadeable rivers. New York State (NYS) maintains a long-established biological monitoring program using macroinvertebrate community assemblages for water quality assessment. However, headwater streams are rarely assessed, and no reference models are available, except those calibrated for lower-continuum wadeable streams and rivers. Current patterns of rural landuse change emphasize the need for more accurate assessment of previously neglected headwaters, in order to set natural reference standards for more accurate assessments of water quality. Ecoregion, drainage area (DA), elevation (elev.), …

Computer Science Concept Inventories: Past And Future, Cynthia Taylor, Daniel Zingaro, Leo Porter, Kevin C. Webb, C. B. Lee, Michael Clancy

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Concept Inventories (CIs) are assessments designed to measure student learning of core concepts. CIs have become well known for their major impact on pedagogical techniques in other sciences, especially physics. Presently, there are no widely used, validated CIs for computer science. However, considerable groundwork has been performed in the form of identifying core concepts, analyzing student misconceptions, and developing CI assessment questions. Although much of the work has been focused on CS1 and a CI has been developed for digital logic, some preliminary work on CIs is underway for other courses. This literature review examines CI work in other STEM …