Lupin’s First Lesson: An Example of Excellent Teaching

A story is often better than abstract theorizing; and the best stories provide opportunities for readers to reflect on their own lives. J.K. Rowling\u27s portrayal of Professor Lupin\u27s first class with Harry\u27s group of Gryffindor third years in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban embodies some useful pedagogical orientations and practices. It is particularly insightful about the importance of teachers working to understand their students. In fact, this pedagogical focus on the student is so central to the nature of teaching that Rowling\u27s story is a sort of fairy tale of pedagogy

From race records to rock 'n' roll : Elvis, Sun, and the production of culture perspective

Dr. Michael J. Budds, Thesis Supervisor.With the breakout success of his first commercial recordings made and released in1954 and 1955 by Sam Phillips's Memphis, Tennessee-based Sun record label, Elvis Presley (1935-1977) quickly became a regional star with his black-white hybrid "rockabilly" aesthetic. Subsequently, after signing with the RCA Victor label in 1956, Elvis became the center of the national explosion of rock 'n' roll gaining massive national popularity among a young biracial audience. The intensified crossing of white and black musical traditions in American postwar popular music has since become a central theme in musicological, cultural, and historical studies of rock 'n' roll. Along this line of study, I employ the production of culture perspective in this thesis to examine the influence of systemic pressures, limitations, and rewards in the commercial recording and broadcast radio industries on Elvis's early career trajectory and the broader turn to black and black-inspired musical influences in the mainstream American popular music market. I argue that rather than being neutral conduits of latent social, aesthetic, or cultural forces, fundamental shifts in these commercial media formats shaped rock 'n' roll and its related cultural movement in significant, tangible ways. More broadly, I contend that viewing the radical cultural and aesthetic shifts associated with rock 'n' roll from the viewpoint of production illuminates essential aspects of the relationship between cultural forms and the institutional contexts in which they are produced, disseminated, and consumed.Dr. Michael J. Budds, Thesis Supervisor.Includes bibliographical references (pages 186-205)

Computer assisted analysis of rock slope stability

Computers provide a powerful tool for the stability analysis of many physical scenarios. An area where advanced interactive computer analysis software has been relatively sparse is in the analysis of rock slopes. Interactive software aids in the analysis of rock slope stability in two main ways: first, by automating long and involved calculations, thus saving time and minimizing human error and second, by providing rapid visual feedback on how changing input parameters affects stability. In this way, the rock slope engineer can quickly get a feel for the factors critical to the problem at hand and the software thus becomes an effective learning tool, in addition to being an analysis tool. Three interactive computer programs which aid in the stability analysis of rock slopes have recently been developed at the Institute for Geotechnology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville under a research project funded by the Tennessee Department of Transportation. These programs are entitled PlaneSlip, WedgeSlip, and RockSlip and are collectively known as the ROCKSLIP package. PlaneSlip and WedgeSlip implement limiting equilibrium solutions for plane and wedge slides, respectively, while RockSlip implements an energy method to analyze the stability of curved or multi-plane failure surfacesApplication of these programs to the analysis of rock slopes in East Tennessee and Alabama will be demonstrated with some worked example problems. The worked examples are also included in a workbook which gives a condensed introduction to the programs and highlights major features of the programs with each of the example problems. These programs allow the user to interactively adjust the discontinuity geometry, slope geometry, water pressure, friction angle, cohesion, and slope reinforcement. Water pressure in PlaneSlip and RockSlip is governed by the combination of two parameters: the height of water in a tension crack and a parameter called drainage impedance, which controls the permeability of the discontinuities. In WedgeSlip there is an input value for the average water pressure on each plane which can be specified by the user or set to a default value based on slope geometry. Screen displays of the slope cross section and stereographic projections of the slope geometry and discontinuity data change in real time as the user adjusts the variables

Physical Property Modeling of Solvent-Based Carbon Capture Processes with Uncertainty Quantification and Validation with Pilot Plant Data

The US DOE\u27s Carbon Capture Simulation Initiative (CCSI) has a strong focus on the development of state of the art process models to accelerate the development and commercialization of post-combustion carbon capture system technologies. One of CCSI\u27s goals is the development of a rigorous process model that may serve as a definitive reference for benchmarking the performance of solvent-based CO2 capture systems, using aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA) as a baseline. Among the requirements of this process model is the development of its component submodels (e.g. physical properties) from relevant bench-scale data. Moreover, the process model must take into account parametric uncertainty in the submodels and be validated with both steady-state and dynamic process data collected from a pilot plant over a wide range of operating conditions. This dissertation is focused on two major aspects of the development of this MEA solvent model, namely the development of the physical property models for the MEA-H2O-CO2 system and the validation of the steady-state model with large-scale pilot plant data from the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) in Alabama.;The physical property modeling work may be divided into standalone property models and the integrated thermodynamic framework of the system. Viscosity, density, and surface tension models have been developed individually by calibrating parameters, for an empirical model of a given form, to fit experimental data from the open literature. The thermodynamic framework has been developed within Aspen PlusRTM, using the e-NRTL model as a starting point, by regressing model parameters to fit vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE), heat capacity, and heat of absorption data. A parameter selection methodology using an information criterion has been implemented for reducing the model complexity. A methodology for uncertainty quantification (UQ) has also been included for all property models, in which Bayesian inference is used to update distributions of model parameters in light of experimental data.;The physical property models, along with separately developed mass transfer, hydraulic, and reaction kinetics models, are incorporated into the overall process model. This model has been validated with steady-state data from NCCC for a total of 23 test runs, and the model predictions of absorber and stripper column performance have been shown to match the experimental data with satisfactory fit. The parametric uncertainty from the process submodels are propagated through the process model in order to study the resulting uncertainty in the process variables of the system, notably the CO2 capture efficiency of the absorber and the amount of CO2 regenerated in the stripper. Concurrent sensitivity studies have been performed, which provide insight into the relative contributions of the uncertainty in particular submodels to the overall process uncertainty.;Finally, some ongoing work related to the solvent model project is also presented. In one project, a methodology for scale-up uncertainty quantification is being developed, in which the effect of radial liquid distribution on column performance is estimated and preliminary comparison of this model to process data is made. The final project involves using the completed process model for planning a second MEA campaign at NCCC, which is ongoing at the time of the writing of this dissertation. In this work, the estimated uncertainty in absorber efficiency is quantified as a function of key manipulated variables by propagating the submodel parametric uncertainty through the absorber model over the range of input variables. An initial set of test conditions has been designed with the objective of choosing points for which the estimated uncertainty is relatively high, while maintaining a spread of the conditions throughout the input space. A methodology has been proposed for using Bayesian inference to update the parametric uncertainty as the data are collected

Folk Moral Relativism

It has often been suggested that people's ordinary understanding of morality involves a belief in objective moral truths and a rejection of moral relativism. The results of six studies call this claim into question. Participants did offer apparently objectivist moral intuitions when considering individuals from their own culture, but they offered increasingly relativist intuitions considering individuals from increasingly different cultures or ways of life. The authors hypothesize that people do not have a fixed commitment to moral objectivism but instead tend to adopt different views depending on the degree to which they consider radically different perspectives on moral questions

The Journal of the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning

IMPACT: The Journal of the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching & Learning is a peer-reviewed, biannual online journal that publishes scholarly and creative non-fiction essays about the theory, practice and assessment of interdisciplinary education. Impact is produced by the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching & Learning at the College of General Studies, Boston University (www.bu.edu/cgs/citl).In this issue, podcasts are looked at as a pedagogical game changer. Using the award-wining podcast Serial as their catalyst, this issue's essayists look at podcast's emerging role in higher education, how multimodal learning can help students find their voices, the podcast's place in the curriculum at a criminal justice college, and how podcasts can inspire students to reflectively assess their own writing. Our reviewers take a critical look at the podcasts Welcome to Night Vale and Revisionist History

Between Mandates and Molding Minds: The Challenge of Teacher Autonomy Today

In recent years, Texas schools have witnessed a significant decline in teacher autonomy, attributable primarily to three factors: an increased emphasis on standardized testing, the prevalence of top-down leadership and bureaucracy, and the adoption of third-party curricula and commercialized content. These elements have collectively constrained educators\u27 ability to adapt and innovate according to the unique needs of their students. Additionally, this issue has had profound ripple effects on families and communities in several ways. Possible solutions for increasing teacher autonomy will be provided that offer multiple benefits to the education system, teachers, students, and the broader community

Richmond Public Schools: Post-Court Mandated School Desegregation (1986-2006)

In 1970, cross-town busing was court mandated to enforce school desegregation in Richmond, Virginia. Unitary status was declared in Richmond when cross-town busing ended in 1986. Richmond Public Schools (RPS) no longer operated as a dual school system for blacks and whites after 1986. Class and racial segregation continued to exist in the City of Richmond. RPS remained predominately black and poor. Socio-economic conditions of the city continued to impact the school district. Controversies, mismanagement and low academic achievement stigmatized RPS until state and federal performance measures forced the district to improve. By 2006, RPS was still segregated; however, as a result of better leadership, academic success was demonstrated on Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments