Connecting with the Caribbean

Teaching and learning mathematics can be a universal language. Our session will focus on the collaborative efforts of Old Dominion University and the Caribbean schools on the islands of St. Kitts, Dominica, Nevis and Anguilla in order to provide professional development learning opportunities in the area of mathematics. Specifically, the learning opportunity sessions concentrate on the use of manipulatives to teach conceptual understandings of mathematical ideals for the participating Caribbean schools and teachers. Preliminary data will be presented and discussed that includes the technical process, teacher understanding and participation, and mathematics self-efficacy

Design, Development, and Validation of a Rapid Modal Testing System for the Efficient Structural Identification of Highway Bridges

A rapid modal testing system for highway bridges was designed, developed, and validated. The motivation for the work stemmed from the lack of quantitative, experimental evaluations in current highway bridge condition assessment practice. Modern applications of St-Id can provide an accurate assessment of the load carrying capacity of a highway bridge but are too costly for widespread application. The developed system aims to supplement perform modal impact tests on common highway bridges in a rapid, low-cost, and repeatable manner. The experimental approach utilizes a mobile driving point (input/output source) that is equipped with a local array of accelerometers and a reduced set of stationary sensors. The stationary sensors are installed out of the way of traffic and are used as a modal scaling and phase reference. This allows independent subsets of local single-input-multiple-output (SIMO) measurements to be sequentially integrated into a full multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) data set. The result is a mobile, adaptable testing system that can quickly and efficiently obtain reliable FRF measurements of a structure. As part of this research, the physical prototype of the test system was developed using a systems engineering approach. Through a series of numerical examples, laboratory benchmarks, and field tests, the prototype system and general experimental and analytical methodology is developed. The system performance is evaluated by comparisons between two field tests on a typical highway bridge: a multi-reference impact test (MRIT) and a static truck load test. The research concluded that the prototype system is capable of performing a modal impact test that is equivalent to a traditional MRIT but with reductions in both time and cost of the evaluation. The research also found good agreement between displacement predictions made by a finite element (FE) model that was calibrated with the dynamic results from the prototype system and the "ground truth" displacement measurements obtained by truck load testing.Ph.D., Civil Engineering -- Drexel University, 201

Educational change, inertia and potential futures

The point of departure of the paper is that there are profound social, cultural, technological, scientific and environmental changes which occur at most local but also at global levels of the modern world. From these will stem huge challenges in all spheres of life. These demand changes in education, not necessarily in the system or how it operates, but perhaps in its aims, and most certainly in its content. Knowledge that was once powerful to understand the world, to develop as a person and address the challenges of life, should be replaced with new knowledge which may often be outside the traditional disciplines. Moreover, a host of new skills may be relevant for the world of tomorrow. There are, however, many obstacles to change, both reasonable and unreasonable ones. The thrust of the paper is to provide a discussion of nine categories of inertia or constraints that are seen to stifle change, in particular, as it relates to the content of education. The categories are discussed under the headings of general conservativism, system stability, standards, fuzziness of new ideas, the strength of old ideas, vested interests, teacher education, lack of space and motivation for initiative, and lack of consequence of no change. Added to this there are serious logistic problems for those who want to foster change. It is argued that very little change in content will be seen if these inertial constraints are not recognised. Assuming there is a will to change, the institutional infrastructures that should facilitate sustained change must be scutinised and it must be ensured that the teachers, i.e. the professionals that operate the system, are involved.Peer Reviewe

Social networking and physical activity levels among young adults

This study examined how posting daily pictures of physical activity (PA) to social networking sites (SNS), influenced young adults PA levels and motivational profiles. Participants (N = 58) were 18-22 years of age. The 2-week intervention consisted of group A (SN group) uploading pictures of themselves working out on their Instagram account, while group B (Non-SN group) did not upload pictures. Both groups kept a daily PA log, and tracked steps taken, calories burned, and distance traveled using an OMRON Walking Style Pedometer. The Exercise Regulation Questionnaire (BREQ-2), was distributed on days 4, 7, and 10 to determine if posting to SNS influences intrinsic motivation (IM). Results indicated a significant difference within and between group intervention t(50) = -3.044, p = 0.004, indicating a greater increase in PA for the SN group, than the non-SN group. Findings also indicated that IM was the most significant predictor of PA while focusing on young adults’ psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness support. In conclusion, posting PA pictures to SNS can increase PA levels, as well as moving young adults’ motivational profiles along the continuum towards being more IM to engage in PA

The Concept of Repression in The Social and Educational Thought of Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse

261 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1972.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

Lents Strong: Community Action Plan for a Livable, Affordable Neighborhood

This is a community action and advocacy plan, created in consultation with neighborhood organizations and underrepresented communities most at risk for displacement. It focuses on actions where collaboration and community engagement will have the largest impacts. This is a plan for the next five years. The overarching goals of the plan are to: Ensure the viability of Livable Lents. Livable Lents should remain a transparent, accountable, accessible, and holistic community engagement process that works collaboratively with nonprofits, city agencies, and community members. This plan serves in part as a collaboration strategy which integrates engagement on a wide range of projects that are integral to livability and affordability. Build community capacity for advocacy on key issues. This plan is intended as both the continuation of conversations that have been occurring for years as well as the impetus for community-driven advocacy efforts around the issues most important to Lents residents. Through its 2015 survey, Livable Lents identified a list of community priorities for future attention. Lents Strong expands and diversifies the conversation around these priority areas. Foster effective collaboration. Commitment by those already doing important work in the community is crucial to the successful implementation of the recommendations in this plan. This will ensure that the work is both wide reaching and lasting. This project was conducted under the supervision of Ethan Seltzer, Marisa Zapata, Susan Hartnett, Lisa Bates, and Vivek Shandas