"We muddle our way through": shared and distributed expertise in digital engagement with research

The use and availability of digital media is changing researchers' roles and simultaneously providing a route for a more engaging relationship with stakeholders throughout the research process. Although the digital realm has a profound influence on people's day-to-day lives, some researchers have not yet professionally embraced digital technologies. This paper arises from one aspect of a project exploring how university research and professional practices are evolving as researchers engage with stakeholders via digital media to create, share and represent knowledge together. Using researchers from the Open University (U.K.) as a case study, this paper reviews the extent to which they are developing multiple identities and functions in their engaged research through digital media

Distance Adult Learner Doctoral StudentsCreating a Nontraditional Doctoral Enclave

This paper explores a new model development for nontraditional adult learner doctoral enclaves. This specific enclave facilitates the movement from doctoral student to candidate to completion of the dissertation for adult learners who are employed fulltime and geographically located a distance away from the traditional support structures

Cognitive Development of Adult Undergraduate Students: Cohort and Non-Cohort Settings

In response to the increased number of adults in the student population, colleges and universities began offering courses in a variety of formats to accommodate the working adult’s schedule. These formats include, but are not limited to, intensive weekend courses and accelerated cohort programs

Impacts of ENSO on Tornado Frequency, Intensity, and Geography Across the Eastern United States

Tornadoes are a reoccurring severe weather hazard, with the highest rates globally occurring in the central United States. Despite their high frequency in the U.S., the scientific community’s disagreement of tornado activity during varying phases and intensities of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) justifies a need for further research. In this study, tornado events from 1950 to 2014 in the U.S. east of the Rocky Mountains were investigated for seven phases of ENSO: strong, moderate, and weak El Niño/La Niña and the neutral phase. A seasonal Niño 3.4 index was used as the definition of ENSO. ENSO influences on tornado frequency, intensity, geographical distribution, and track area were tested using sophisticated mapping (i.e. GIS optimized hot spot analysis) and spatial statistics (i.e. average nearest neighbor and global Moran’s I). Results indicate that in spring, a Weak La Niña correlates with higher tornado intensity and stronger, long-lived tornadoes that shift eastward from the central U.S. as ENSO transitions from El Niño to La Niña. Summer has high tornado frequencies that do not vary dramatically across ENSO phases, with weak, short-lived tornadoes occurring in tornado outbreaks. Fall has similar tornado frequencies across six of the seven ENSO phases, apart from largely higher annual counts during a Strong La Niña phase. Winter exhibits more tornadoes that are stronger and longer-lived during a Moderate La Niña phase, with a northward expansion in tornado hot spots as ENSO transitions from El Niño to La Niña. In general, La Niña is most conducive for higher tornado counts and stronger, longer lived tornadoes

Developing computer-based assessment as a tool to support enquiry led learning

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (MSc) by ResearchThis research explores the possibility of developing Computer-based Assessment (CBA) as a tool to support enquiry-led learning. In this approach learners explore and unpack thoughts and ideas that help them to learn and solve problems. A critical feature of this is feedback and this research focussed on how to design and supply feedback in CBA. Two lines of research were sourced: Computer-assisted Assessment (CM) and Improving Formative Assessment (IFA). Specifically, performance data was collected, analysed and evaluated from the statistical results of 3 CSA tests (approximately 100 undergraduates per test) and from qualitative feedback, the dialogic question and answer responses of (approximately 30 learners x 100 responses) engaged on level 3 activity of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The outcome of the research is the development of Kilauea exemplar, a theoretical model of an enquiry led item type applied in a subject specific domain

A comparison of a physically fit group and a less fit group on several variables

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Child Care by Kith and Kin: Supporting Family, Friends, and Neighbors Caring for Children

In the last decade, one area of focus for those concerned with child care has been caregivers who do not consider themselves to be professionals but routinely care for children while parents work or prepare for work. There are many names for this care—informal child care, license-exempt family child care and relative care, child care by family friends and neighbors, and child care by kith and kin. Given that the child care field has had difficulty coming up with a common name for this category (or these categories) of individuals, it is not surprising that the field also is still in the process of building consensus on the nature of appropriate policies and program strategies to support these caregivers. A significant proportion of public subsidies go to kith and kin caregivers, and child care policymakers and others believe that increasing numbers of families will use subsidized care of this nature as a consequence of welfare changes. Therefore, there is increasing interest in identifying what, if anything, can and should be done for children, families, and caregivers involved in kith and kin child care. This issue brief provides an overview of the issue; describes what research tells us about kith and kin child care, traditional policy approaches, and new approaches to reach out to kith and kin child care providers; and identifies implications for policies, program strategies, and further research. The information summarized in this issue brief is intended to inform the public dialogue about kith and kin care and serve as a starting point for those interested in developing programs and policies and reviewing recent research related to kith and kin child care

Petrology of the Eocene Marquez Shale Member of the Reklaw Formation, Bastrop County, Texas

The Eocene Marquez Shale, a member of the Reklaw Formation, was studied in Bastrop County, Texas, where a complete section crops out. The unit consists of (1) lignitic, pyritic fissile claystones; (2) glauconitic fossiliferous bioturbated mudstones; (3) plant-rich, laminated, slightly rippled interbedded siltstones and mudstones; and (4) small pyrite concretions, large septarian siderite concretions, and cone-in-cone structures. The dominant clay mineral is smectite, with some intermixed kaolinite. Silt-size material includes abundant quartz, and rarer feldspar and muscovite. Glauconite, in the form of pellets, occurs in the lower Marquez, often in great abundance. Marine fossils, especially mollusks and foraminifera, are also common in the lower Marquez. Plant fragments and amorphous organic material are present throughout. Pyrite is associated with marine fossils, plant fragments and organic matter, glauconite, and concretions, and is usually framboidal. Weathering products include gypsum and hematite. The depositional setting of the lower Marquez fluctuated between a stagnant, brackish swamp or lagoon, and an oxygenated, open marine, shallow shelf area. The upper Marquez was probably delta-influenced, being perhaps an interdeltaic or interdistributary embayment.Geological Science

Inmate Constitutional Claims and the Scienter Requirement

Scholars have criticized requirements that inmates prove malice or deliberate indifference to establish constitutional claims against corrections officials. The Eighth Amendment currently requires convicted prisoners to show that a prison official acted “maliciously or sadistically” to establish an excessive force claim and with subjective “deliberate indifference” to establish a claim of unconstitutional prison conditions. Similar requirements can apply with respect to claims by pretrial detainees, whose claims are governed by substantive due process rather than the Eighth Amendment. Scienter critics have argued for use of an objective reasonableness standard for all inmate claims—both those brought by convicted prisoners and pretrial detainees. This Essay argues that the scienter requirements are more justified than critics claim. Critics argue that the Court has based its state-of-mind requirements on a mistaken notion that, for an action to constitute punishment, it must necessarily involve a purpose to chastise or deter. Intentions to chastise and deter, however, remain central to the concept of punishment, and reference to other purposes of punishment does not suggest dispensing with a culpable state-of-mind requirement in inmate suits against corrections officials. Scienter requirements, moreover, may be justified apart from notions of punishment, by the need to maintain order in prisons and to distinguish constitutional violations from ordinary torts. Finally, state-of-mind requirements do not pose the impenetrable barrier to liability that critics claim. This is particularly true in systemic conditions cases—the cases that have the most promise for improving the lives of inmates