Educator Responses to Technology Influences in a 1:1 Laptop Middle School

Across the globe, students learn with digital texts, classrooms connect through the world-wide web, and elementary students apprentice in highly technical skills such as moviemaking or animation. As education embarks on the second decade of the 21st century, technology is becoming more sought after than ever before as countries prepare their youth for the future. But educational technology initiatives could easily leave learning stagnant and waste millions of public dollars if not designed and implemented in ways to create transformative learning experiences to prepare youth for today\u27s highly collaborative digital world. This study investigates how teachers view various influences encouraging or discouraging the use of technology in the classroom, particularly in ways that transform education to a constructivist, innovative experience. This qualitative study uses cultural historical activity theory as a conceptual and analytical framework, enabling the identification and analysis of various pressures on classroom educators to either incorporate instructional technology in their classroom practice, or work in opposition to its integration. Data was collected through field observation and interview and was analyzed by identifying the source of influences from community, technology, instructional, curricular, administrative and classroom-based origins. Participants said they were more likely to integrate technology when receiving strong technical and pedagogical support through intervention of a technology integration specialist, support from professional relationships, positive student responses and levels of engagement, and a visible benefit to instruction. This study analyzes the perceptions of a small group of participants with varying levels of experience in a 1:1 computing environment. Future studies could focus on the role of the technology integration specialist as a pedagogical and technical support for classroom educators. Additional studies could expand the research by evaluating other models of technological and pedagogical support in 1:1 environments

The Determination of Calcium-magnesium Ratios in Sedimentary Rocks

The study of elastic sediments has been basic work for most geologists. Field descriptions tell the kind of rock, its color, its texture, how it is bedded, and its mineral and organic content. In the laboratory more exact mechanical and mineralogical analyses are made to add to the statistics. Among the laboratory analyses insoluble residue studies have been a valuable tool in research on the clastic sediments and the analysis of samples to determine the insoluble percentages has been systematized so that highly skilled technicians are not required to perform most of the work. As a result many thousands of samples are processed each year. The insoluble portion is often also analyzed to compute grain size, sorting, and mineral content. Unfortunately the soluble portion of the rocks has been largely neglected because of the time required in making chemical analyses. Pettijohn (1949, p. 313) has classified carbonate rocks on the ratios of calcite to dolomite in the carbonate fraction. It is suggested that a statistical analysis of the soluble portions of sandstone should be made using a modification of this classification and that a study of the cement of these elastic sediments would be an important key in the problem of the origin of dolomites which has so long been perplexing geologists

Intermodulation distortion from receiver non-linear phase characteristics Final report

Computation of intermodulation distortion levels produced by telemetry system predetection filte

Inclusive or exclusive? Investigating how retail technology can reduce old consumers’ barriers to shopping

This paper investigates older consumers in-store shopping experiences and the barriers that they face. The aim is to understand how new retail technologies (e.g., interactive in-store displays, self-service tills, robots etc.) can help seniors access satisfying, autonomous retail experiences, helping them to achieve a sense of inclusion in physical retail settings. Drawing upon the social inclusion/exclusion theory and information overload theory, the research employs a qualitative approach based on an inductive design, including face-to-face semi structured interviews with 36 consumers aged 75+. The findings highlight (i) old consumers have scarce interactions with in-store technologies (adding knowledge to motivations literature), (ii) the need to develop new technologies to support these consumers, and (iii) the extent to which these technologies are excluding rather than including old consumers (adding knowledge to the drivers of the field of exclusion). Results provide guidelines for retailers to enhance the sense of inclusion for old consumers through a better usage of new technologies

Calculating Nonlocal Optical Properties of Structures with Arbitrary Shape

In a recent Letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 097403 (2009)], we outlined a computational method to calculate the optical properties of structures with a spatially nonlocal dielectric function. In this Article, we detail the full method, and verify it against analytical results for cylindrical nanowires. Then, as examples of our method, we calculate the optical properties of Au nanostructures in one, two, and three dimensions. We first calculate the transmission, reflection, and absorption spectra of thin films. Because of their simplicity, these systems demonstrate clearly the longitudinal (or volume) plasmons characteristic of nonlocal effects, which result in anomalous absorption and plasmon blueshifting. We then study the optical properties of spherical nanoparticles, which also exhibit such nonlocal effects. Finally, we compare the maximum and average electric field enhancements around nanowires of various shapes to local theory predictions. We demonstrate that when nonlocal effects are included, significant decreases in such properties can occur.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures, 1 tabl

Predictors of treatment change and engagement in cognitive-behavioral group therapy for depression.

Examined predictors of treatment response in 48 individuals (mean age 40.71 yrs) who presented for participation in a 10-session cognitive-behavioral group therapy program for depression. The majority of Ss carried a diagnosis of major depression and all were concurrently on at least 1 antidepressant medication. The therapeutic approach involved an integration of 2 empirically supported therapies: Beck\u27s cognitive therapy (A. T. Beck et al, 1979) and Lewinsohn\u27s Coping With Depression course (P. M. Lewinsohn et al, 1984). Ss completed the Burns Depression Checklist, the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (DAS), and the Burns Hopelessness Scale, a 5-item questionnaire which assesses the degree of optimism/pessimism an individual has regarding mood and symptom control. No significant differences were found on pretreatment dysfunctional attitudes or depressive symptomatology between individuals who dropped out of treatment and treatment completers. However, pretreatment hopelessness scores were significantly higher in dropouts than in individuals who completed treatment. Increased pessimism about symptom control was also related to fewer reductions in DAS scores throughout treatment among completers and to poorer overall treatment response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved

Gyrotropic impact upon negatively refracting surfaces

Surface wave propagation at the interface between different types of gyrotropic materials and an isotropic negatively refracting medium, in which the relative permittivity and relative permeability are, simultaneously, negative is investigated. A general approach is taken that embraces both gyroelectric and gyromagnetic materials, permitting the possibility of operating in either the low GHz, THz or the optical frequency regimes. The classical transverse Voigt configuration is adopted and a complete analysis of non-reciprocal surface wave dispersion is presented. The impact of the surface polariton modes upon the reflection of both plane waves and beams is discussed in terms of resonances and an example of the influence upon the Goos–Hänchen shift is given

Nonlinear surface waves in left-handed materials

We study both linear and nonlinear surface waves localized at the interface separating a left-handed medium (i.e. the medium with both negative dielectric permittivity and negative magnetic permeability) and a conventional (or right-handed) dielectric medium. We demonstrate that the interface can support both TE- and TM-polarized surface waves - surface polaritons, and we study their properties. We describe the intensity-dependent properties of nonlinear surface waves in three different cases, i.e. when both the LH and RH media are nonlinear and when either of the media is nonlinear. In the case when both media are nonlinear, we find two types of nonlinear surface waves, one with the maximum amplitude at the interface, and the other one with two humps. In the case when one medium is nonlinear, only one type of surface wave exists, which has the maximum electric field at the interface, unlike waves in right-handed materials where the surface-wave maximum is usually shifted into a self-focussing nonlinear medium. We discus the possibility of tuning the wave group velocity in both the linear and nonlinear cases, and show that group-velocity dispersion, which leads to pulse broadening, can be balanced by the nonlinearity of the media, so resulting in soliton propagation.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure