The Lifecycle of Sustainable Analytics: From Data Collection to Change Management

In this age of an ever-increasing list of analytics vendors and endlessly forwarded news articles that trumpet the promises of big data in higher education, it can be easy to become distracted by data science and miss out on another opportuni­ty—supporting increased professionalism amongst university staff, faculty, and administrators. Indeed, like many technologies before it, analytics provides us with an opportunity to catalyze institutional effectiveness, but only when we resist the tenden­cy to believe that technology can replace the need for human ingenuity and judgment. This report will argue that such threats to pro­fessional flourishing can be insulated against if administrators in higher education are willing to imbue analytics initiatives with a focus on increased data literacy, professional autonomy, and human collaboration. Our initial successes with focusing on the human element in analytics will be explored, accompanied by evidence supporting this approach

The Innovation Delta: A Model for Collaborative Decision Making

In a fast-paced, high reward professional environment, it is easy to engage in haphazard, if not well-meaning, solution seeking. While there are many resources that aid the decision-making process, it is all too common to fall back on our own perceptions and biases as an exclusive decision-making tool, leading to ill-formed solutions. The Innovation Delta reminds the decision maker to rely on at least three sources of information to triangulate on a viable solution: personal Reflection, formal and informal Evaluation practices, and Emulation of others who have already discovered solutions that may be appropriate

Why do you go to College? Shaping Student Beliefs and Success. A Dissertation Summary.

Students enter the realm of higher education with a wide variety of beliefs about the purposes of attending university, which often relate to or reveal their various motivations for pursuing a post-secondary education. Research demonstrates that some student motivations align more fully with intrinsic factors, such as the love of learning or quest for excellence, while other student motivations align with extrinsic factors, such as vocational preparedness and monetary incentives (Vallerand et al., 1989). Using a Bourdieusienne lens, this study sought to place these student motivations in the larger sociocultural context and argue for greater opportunities for democratic equity in post-secondary environments. Relying on Self-Determination Theory, the study investigated the relationship between student academic motivations and longitudinal academic performance at a four-year, research oriented university in the United States. More importantly, the study sought to determine if institutional interventions, specifically incoming student orientation and a first-year experience (FYE) course, were valuable in helping align student motivations with the central values of higher education. Using the Academic Motivation Scale for College (AMS-C) across two years, the study employed a Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) and Latent Transition Analysis (LTA) to extract several profiles or “types” of student motivation and examined developmental variability of these profiles across time. Students who shifted from a more controlled to a more autonomous motivational profile in connection with institutional intervention demonstrated the highest levels of first-year academic performance and retention. However, these results diminished during the second academic year. Implications for practice suggest the importance of providing students with a values-based intervention to enhance autonomy-oriented academic motivation and to do so in a manner that sustains this enhancement throughout the academic career

Ambulance Service Treat and Refer Guidelines: A qualitative investigation into the use of Treat and Refer Guidelines by Ambulance Clinicians

Background: Over the last decade there has been a steadily increasing demand for unscheduled healthcare services, including the ambulance services. To address this demand, various projects have been developed to reduce admissions to the emergency department. One of these was the introduction of Treat and Refer (T&R) guidelines, to allow ambulance clinicians to treat certain groups of patients in the community without the need to convey them to hospital. Aims: This study aims to explore the challenges and barriers faced by ambulance clinicians in the use of T&R guidelines, to inform the future development and governance of non-conveyance guidelines and interventions. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a group of 18 ambulance clinicians. Data were analysed using framework analysis. Setting: A national United Kingdom NHS ambulance service. Key results: There was a broad support for the concept and policy of T&R; however the participants had mixed views with respect to the actual practice of treating and referring patients. Participants acknowledged the potential benefits of T&R for patients and the health service, but identified several risks in using T & R in routine practice. Their perceptions of risk seemed to determine whether and how the guidelines were used. Challenges in the use of T&R included: lack of training and knowledge, fear of litigation, a lack of support from the management and difficulties in decision making. Conclusions: This study and the supporting literature do not support the use of T&R guidelines in their current format by traditionally trained ambulance clinicians. Ambulance clinicians have identified the need for further education and support. The conceptual support for T&R may provide a foundation to develop and improve the education and support for ambulance clinicians. This should be combined with implementation/review strategies, clinician-led decision support and management support which can provide the ambulance clinician with the skills and confidence to take responsibility for non-conveyance

Why Do You Go to University? Outcomes Associated With Student Beliefs About the Purposes of a University Education

Students enter the realm of higher education with a wide variety of beliefs about the purposes of attending university, which often relate to or reveal their various motivations for pursuing a post-secondary education. Research demonstrates that some student motivations align more fully with intrinsic factors, such as the love of learning or quest for excellence, while other student motivations align with extrinsic factors, such as vocational preparedness and monetary incentives (Vallerand et al., 1989). Using a Bourdieusienne lens, this study sought to place these student motivations in the larger sociocultural context and argue for greater opportunities for democratic equity in post-secondary environments. Relying on Self-Determination Theory, the study investigated the relationship between student academic motivations and longitudinal academic performance at a four-year, research oriented university in the United States. More importantly, the study sought to determine if institutional interventions, specifically incoming student orientation and a first-year experience (FYE) course, were valuable in helping align student motivations with the central values of higher education. Using the Academic Motivation Scale for College (AMS-C) across two years, the study employed a Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) and Latent Transition Analysis (LTA) to extract several profiles or “types” of student motivation and examined developmental variability of these profiles across time. Students who shifted from a more controlled to a more autonomous motivational profile in connection with institutional intervention demonstrated the highest levels of first-year academic performance and retention. However, these results diminished during the second academic year. Implications for practice suggest the importance of providing students with a values-based intervention to enhance autonomy-oriented academic motivation and to do so in a manner that sustains this enhancement throughout the academic career

Water Use in Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba) with Applications in Irrigation Timing and Quantity

Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba) is a major fruit crop in China where it has been a favored cash crop and successfully used to address erosion problems in the Loess Plateau region of western China. Further use of jujube in forestry projects and improved agricultural efficiency are very promising. This study sought to repeat a water-use study in two climates: a hot, semi-arid climate in Yangling, Shaanxi, China and a dry-summer, continental climate in Logan, Utah, USA. The study took physiological measurements on the trees with the aim of characterizing the way that jujube uses water. This would help to create an irrigation scheduling tool for the jujube that could be used by smallholder farmers in China and growers in the arid US interested in a promising new fruit crop. Three treatments were applied: (1) would water the trees generously, (2) would restrict irrigation to produce moderate drought stress, and (3) would restrict irrigation heavily to produce severe stress. The physiological measurements included how much water was being used by the trees, the rate at which the water was being transpired by the leaves, the surface temperature of the leaves, and the internal water pressure of the trees.The study in Yangling nearly failed. That study yielded no data that contributed to scientific discussion, but commentary and insights are given as to the value of failed research in the academic process. The study in Logan was completed successfully and found that jujube’s responses to the drought stress treatments revealed an interesting phenomenon in the time after the drought treatments ended and were receiving ample water. These findings contribute to the suggestion that jujube maintains normal water usage during drought stress. Because of this, there is a concern for using jujube in agricultural applications where water must be used carefully

Transcript of Interview with Sonora Dodd by R. Belle Colver, October 29, 1965

Transcript of interview with Sonora Dodd by R. Belle Colver, concerning the history of Father\u27s Day and the holiday\u27s commercialization.https://digitalcommons.whitworth.edu/fathers-day-correspondence/1144/thumbnail.jp

Using Pickering stabilisation as a tool for the fabrication of supra-colloidal structures

We have shown the use of Pickering stabilisation (the stabilisation of an interface with solid particles) in the creation of different materials. This gave us access to structures not possible in normal surfactant systems. These materials have some unique properties: For instance by using the high forces holding the Pickering particles at an oil-water-interface we can create interesting droplet morphologies. The non-spherical droplets obtained this way have potential uses in materials such as self healing composites. Additionally we developed the first Pickering miniemulsion system by using Laponite clay as the stabiliser. We went on to then demonstrate the improvements the latex can impart on the properties of pressure sensitive adhesives as well as increasing the thermal stability of the encapsulated polymer. We also created the first Pickering poly(HIPE) material and have shown that it is possible to produce structures which can be used in applications such as microfiltration. Finally the first purely Pickering emulsion polymerisation system was also designed using Ludox particles as a charged stabiliser. We could then create interesting shell morphologies by post treating the armoured latex particles