An Outreach First

“How many of you knew there was a writing center that helped students with writing essays?” No hands went up. The response of this small group of Hispanic students, three in all, was the perfect motivation for our writing center to start an outreach program. During the first summer session in 2003, the Communication Skills Center (CSC) at Texas A&M-Commerce began a small outreach effort to help ESL students enter the university. This “reaching out” to ESL high school students started as a way for them to improve basic writing skills under the guise of test preparation. Using computer-based practices enabled the students to connect with the tutor, the computer, and each other. This development created an opportunity for the writing center to play an integral part in not only preparing these students for impending standardized tests, but also developing a relationship with new students from the start It also promises many benefits in recruiting, mentorship, bridging departmental gaps, and writing across the curriculum.University Writing Cente

Adoption Children\u27s Book

This project is about designing a book that helps explain why several children are adopted and includes a note that will facilitate conversation between parents and children on adoption

Adoption is Good: A Story for Children

Annotated bibliography focusing on the topic of adoption. Items in the bibliography include: books and electronic journal articles

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Current Types of Patient Portal Education Efforts

Hospitals and providers participating in Meaningful Use are required to show 5% enrollment rate in their patient portals in order to receive incentive payments. The challenge with this is determining how to effectively market the portal in order to educate patients that the portal exists that also results in patients enrolling in the portal. A survey of patients was conducted at Hunt Regional Medical Center in Greenville Texas to identify how they are hearing about the patient portal and if they are signing-up as a result. While the response rate was low, the survey results did indicate what form of education is working for HRMC and what is not. It also provided insight into the demographics of patients, in terms of gender and age, that are signing up for the portal. This information will be valuable to HRMC by helping them develop further education materials in order to increase enrollment rate to meet meaningful use requirements

The Science of Legal Synthesis

(Excerpt) This Article applies scientific research to improve and systematize legal synthesis, a vital element of reasoning that spans legal analysis, legal education, and law practice. Despite its critical role in legal analysis, synthesis is poorly understood, hard to perform, and even harder to describe. Synthesis embodies a hidden curriculum that legal educators expect students to learn “by osmosis.” This lack of transparency frustrates both professor and student, rendering the skill difficult to teach, assess, and master. This Article provides reliable methodologies to better understand how legal synthesis really works and how to actually perform it. Part I provides a high-level overview of the centrality of synthesis and inductive reasoning in legal analysis and a review of legal texts examining how legal synthesis is described and taught. Part II examines the science of synthesis, the role of categorization in inductive reasoning, and the research findings leading to greater inductive strength. Finally, Part III explains the mechanics of synthesis and proposes concrete, evidence-based recommendations for effective legal synthesis

Reaching-to-grasp my intention: Relating communication skill with social action

The present study investigated whether social aptitude is related to the effects of social intention on reach-to-grasp actions. Reach-to-grasp actions performed with social intentions (e.g. reaching to pick up a coffee cup to give to a friend) are characterized by different kinematic patterns than those performed with nonsocial intentions (e.g. reaching to pick up a coffee cup to move it aside). These intention-based kinematic changes are thought to serve a communicative function, allowing co-actors to better predict and respond to actions that are relevant to them. If this is true, then individuals who rate themselves as strong communicators should show better discrimination between social and nonsocial actions, whereas those who have poor communication skills should perform actions that are not as clearly differentiated based on social intentionality. In the present study, participants picked up and moved a block to the center of the table to either be collected by another person (social Give condition), or not (nonsocial Place condition). Although the required motor sequence was the same in both conditions, results indicate that actions with social (Give) intentions were associated with different kinematic patterns than actions with nonsocial (Place) intentions. Further, the degree to which certain action kinematics differed based on social intentionality was correlated with participants’ self- reported communication skills. The results are discussed in terms of how social interactions may benefit from communicating social intentionality through action. Future directions for extending beyond the conclusions of the present findings will also be discussed

Mitigating Space Industry Supply Chain Risk Thru Risk-Based Analysis

Using risk-based analysis to consider supply chain disruptions and uncertainty along with potential mitigation strategies in the early stages of space industry projects can be used avoid schedule delays, cost overruns, and lead to successful project outcomes. Space industry projects, especially launch vehicles, are complicated assemblies of high-technology and specialized components. Components are engineered, procured, manufactured, and assembled for specific missions or projects, unlike make-to-stock manufacturing where assemblies are produced at a mass production rate for customers to choose off the shelf or lot, like automobiles. The supply chain for a space industry project is a large, complicated web where one disruption, especially for sole-sourced components, could ripple through the project causing delays at multiple project milestones. This ripple effect can even cause the delay or cancelation of the entire project unless project managers develop and employ risk mitigations strategies against supply chain disruption and uncertainty. The unpredictability of when delays and disruptions may occur makes managing these projects extremely difficult. By using risk-based analysis, project managers can better plan for and mitigate supply chain risk and uncertainty for space industry projects to better manage project success. Space industry project supply chain risk and uncertainty can be evaluated through risk assessments at major project milestones and during the procurement process. Mitigations for identified risks can be evaluated and implemented to better manage project success. One mitigation strategy to supply chain risk and uncertainty is implementing a dual or multi-supplier sourcing procurement strategy. This research explores using a risk-based analysis to identify where this mitigation strategy can be beneficial for space industry projects and how its implementation affects project success. First a supply chain risk assessment and mitigation decision tool will be used at major project milestones to show where a multi-sourcing strategy may be beneficial. Next, updated supplier quote evaluation tools will confirm the usage of multiple suppliers for procurement. Modeling and simulation are then used to show the impact of that strategy on the project success metrics of cost and schedule