The Greening of Historic Places: Finding Common Ground Between Historic Tax Credits and LEED Certification

The number of LEED certified historic buildings continues to increase as the use of the LEED rating system becomes more wide-spread. This increase has led to the need to understand the impact of the LEED rating system on historic buildings. This thesis focused on the study of projects involving the rehabilitation of historic buildings using federal historic tax credits and seeking LEED certification. The decision to only evaluate federal historic tax credit projects was made in order to have a means of measuring the impact on the historic character of the building. All projects using federal historic tax credits must adhere to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Historic Rehabilitations, a set of guidelines for the proper treatment procedures to insure the protection of the historic integrity of the built environment. The LEED certification serves as a means to judge the quality of green design employed in the rehabilitation. For each of the ten identified projects the national register nomination, federal historic tax credit application, and LEED scorecard was evaluated to identify commonalities and relationships that exist between the two independent processes. The evaluation yielded an ideal building and project profile for projects seeking federal historic tax credits and LEED certification, commonalities in LEED points earned, and the investigation of relationships that exist between the two processes. These findings will serve to inform both the preservation and green building communities of physical characteristics, project types, how dual certification projects earn LEED points, and an understanding of the relationships that exist between federal historic tax credit and LEED certification processes

Transit riders and access to bus service: A neighborhood analysis

Intra-jurisdictional delivery of publicly provided services often results in observable differences in service levels that vary by spatial subunit (neighborhood). These variations are related to the socio-demographic characteristics of neighborhoods and have been hypothesized in prior literature to be the result of bias against or favoritism towards certain neighborhoods. Using a mixed-method approach, this dissertation examines publicly provided bus service in four cities – Asheville, NC, Charlotte, NC, Mobile, AL, and Richmond, VA – to examine whether the socio-economic character of a neighborhood is related to the share of municipal bus service it receives and if distribution of shares is impacted by politicized decision-making in the public bureaucracy. Specifically, do transit-dependent neighborhoods, or those with a high percentage of non-Caucasian, low-income, elderly, or student residents receive inferior bus service? Findings confirm prior research that both professional norms and bias are present in service delivery decisions in all four cities. Bias toward upper-income neighborhoods is found in all four cities as well as bias against non-Caucasian neighborhoods in two of the four cities. Additionally, in cities with unreformed government structure, service delivery decisions may be politicized

Se-ing bacteria in a new light: investigating selenium metabolism in Bacillus selenitireducens MLS10

Prokaryotes metabolize selenium in two significant ways. One way prokaryotes metabolize selenium is through incorporation into the 21st amino acid selenocysteine (Sec), which is inserted into proteins co-translationally. Additionally, many prokaryotes exploit the selenium oxyanions selenite and selenate as terminal electron acceptors in anaerobic respiration. Little is known about the evolution of selenoproteins in prokaryotes. While selenate respiration has been studied in several bacteria, nothing is known about the physiology of selenite respiration. I investigated both aspects of selenium metabolism in Bacillus selenitireducens MLS10 by annotating the selenoproteome of MLS10 and constructing phylogenies of these selenoproteins to investigate the evolution of selenoproteins in the bacilli, and by obtaining the protein profiles using SDS-PAGE, determined the cytochrome content using the pyridine hemochrome assay, and tested for enzyme activity in native gels using selenite-grown MLS10 cells. My research demonstrates that the bacilli exploit Sec residues to a far greater extent than has heretofore been appreciated, that the selenoproteins exploited by the bacilli are closely related to those of the clostridia, and provides evidence that the evolution of selenoproteins in Gram-positive bacteria and the d-Proteobacteria is characterized by extensive horizontal gene transfer. Finally, my research provides evidence that selenite respiration is a distinct, inducible respiratory pathway in MLS10, and suggests future directions for further testing of this hypothesis

Rebooting Community Colleges Through ePortfolios: A Key Strategy for the American Association of Community College’s 21ST Century Initiative

In an effort to increase completion rates among community colleges across the nation, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) released a report that provided a list of recommendations for community colleges to consider. These recommendations strive to redefine missions and roles of the community college system and improve institutions’ outcomes. In consideration of these recommendations, I suggest a tool that will recognize the tenets of each implementation strategy and achieve the changes proposed by the AACC’s report. The initiation of ePortfolio programs throughout community colleges can address these recommendations with evidence-based success. Through an analysis of community colleges that have successfully implemented ePortfolio programs into their curriculums, such as LaGuardia Community College, Salt Lake Community College, Tunxis Community College, and others, I offer evidence of ePortfolio programs’ useful applications. This evidence supports the notion that ePortfolio programs are flexible enough to enact the AACC’s recommendations, while providing students and faculty with an established practice capable of remodeling an institution’s outcomes

Assessment of physiological, biomechanical and structural correlates of age-related differences in the aerobic demand of walking of young females

The purpose of this study was to assess the collective influence of selected metabolic, gait, and morphological variables on age-related differences in the submaximal aerobic demand (VO2) of walking. Four age groups of seven females (ages 6,10,13 and 18 or 19) comprised the sample. Measurements of walking VO2, ventilatory equivalent, and step frequency at 1.56 m sec-1 and 0% grade, were obtained at 10-min intervals during three treadmill testing sessions totaling 70 minutes. Sitting metabolic rate was assessed over a 10-min time period following 10 min of seated rest. Limb morphology (thigh to shank ratio) was determined from measurements of limb volume using a water fill plethysmograph. Average vertical ground reaction forces and ground contact time were measured as participants walked across a force platform at 1.56 m-sec-1. Body surface area to mass ratio was predicted from knowledge of body height and mass. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey post-hoc multiple comparison procedures were used to assess whether mean values of the dependent (walking VO2) and independent variables (ventilatory equivalent, step frequency, resting metabolic rate, limb morphology, average vertical ground reaction force, ground contact time and body surface area to mass ratio) were significantly different across age groups

A psychooncology intervention for newly diagnosed cancer patients in a hospital outpatient clinic

The purpose of this study was to reduce anxiety and distress of newly diagnosed cancer patients with a brief, one-time orientation program at an outpatient Hemotology/Oncology clinic. Patients were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The intervention group received a preparatory/ orientation presentation which consisted of a clinic tour, general information (a summary of clinic procedures, various roles of the medical team, and facts about the psychosocial support service), and the opportunity for a question and answer period with a counselor experienced in oncology services. Situational anxiety (state-anxiety) and distress were not significantly different for the two groups when measured at the initial clinic visit. However, both situational anxiety and distress significantly decreased for patients in the treatment group after 7 to 14 days and increased for patients in the control group after the same period of time

Creative dramatics in the treatment of language delay

The various aspects of normal language development, as well as those factors which interfere with normal development, have concerned speech pathologists and educators alike. The verbal experience of the child, socioeconomic status, and motor development are perhaps the most important factors in normal development. Although some children fail to develop language at the usual time due to some identifiable physiogenic or psychogenic cause, still others fail to develop language for no known reason. For such children, those with nonspecific language deficits, a program incorporating a rich verbal environment, motor activity, and social interactions was proposed. This remedial program is characterized by features which are thought to be important to language learning. These same features are primary elements of creative dramatics. Both natural language development and creative dramatics depend on the utilization of environmental stimuli, group interaction, the play instinct, and literature

The importance and usage of keyboard skills in public school music teaching according to public school music teachers and college or university music teachers

The purpose of this study was to investigate which keyboard skills are rated as most important and which are most often used in public school music (PSM) teaching. (PSM as used in this study refers to K-6 music teaching.) Two groups that are able to evaluate the importance and utilization of keyboard skills in PSM teaching are PSM teachers and college or university music faculty members involved in teacher preparation. Piano proficiency examinations from the 29 North Carolina colleges or universities offering degrees in music education were collected and a rating list of skills was compiled. This list, in addition to a questionnaire was mailed to 115 North Carolina college or university music faculty and 116 North Carolina PSM teachers. With regard to PSM teaching, subjects evaluated the importance of Skills and subsequently evaluated the usefulness of skills by appropriately placing numbers 1 through 13. Out of the 231 surveys sent, usable responses were received from 182 (79%) persons, 89 (77%) of whom were PSM teachers and 93 (81%) of whom were college or university faculty members. Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation Coefficients and t tests were used to determine whether significant correlations existed between ratings of groups

The Face of Gender Equity among Faculty at Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) under the University of North Carolina System

Although many faculty members in higher education will contend that their occupations are chosen because of a calling to the profession rather than a desire to make a certain salary, faculty members are also apt to agree that salary equity remains a concern. In other words, faculty members may not be in the profession for the money, but once in the profession, faculty members do seek to receive equitable pay for their time and rank (Carney, 2012). The problem is that, for the most part, salary is not equitable among men and women in the education profession; therefore, this study seeks to focus on salary disparities within the University of North Carolina System through an in-depth analysis of other institutions’ salary studies and data retrieved from the 2013-2014 Annual Association of University Professors salary survey

The short-term effect of the movement of the USD on oil prices

The effect of the changes in the US dollar (USD) on oil prices was examined in several trials. An indexed value of the USD and several individual currency exchange rates with the USD were compared to spot and future oil prices. The percentage change of each was taken from monthly averages and used to determine a direct correlation and if a lost in value of the US Dollar (USD) relates to greater fluctuations in the oil price. Results showed that the shortterm movement of the USD appeared to have very little to no effect on the oil price. The oil price also does not appear to have a greater amount of fluctuation due to a loss in value of the USD. If there is a correlation between the value of the US Dollar and the oil price, it must occur in the longterm to preserve purchasing power, but it is not a relevant factor in determining oil price in the shortterm