Management of Knowledge Workers

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Effectiveness of Visual Cues During Transitions in a Third Grade Classroom

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of using visual cues during transition periods vs. verbal cues. The visual cues are a Google Slide with a list of the required materials and an embedded timer. The investigation employed ongoing monitoring of students during their transitions throughout the school day. The ongoing monitoring was documented using the attached data table. The data table tracked the time it takes students to transition, the # of students in attendance, number of students with all required materials, and the number of students in the correct location. Outcome analysis includes a comparison between the classroom that used visual cues and a neighboring third grade classroom that used verbal cues

Strategies for a Cross-Cultural Ecofeminist Literary Criticism

Key words: empirico-philosophical ecocriticism, consilience, E.O. Wilson, biosemiotics, risk theory, philosophy of biology, environmental historicism, consilient ecocritical theory To what extent can ecofeminist literary criticism developed in western countries be applied to other cultures? Several considerations are needed: foremost, the limitation of language as a symbol system contextually inflected make interpretation of literary and critical texts very difficult, a difficulty compounded by the need of translation into another symbol system with its own context. Moreover, differences of power and subject positions of the authors, translators, critics and readers also influence the product and reception of texts. A western critic becomes an outsider in interpreting literature in another language and culture. One possible strategy to effectively bridge the cross-cultural gap is to work together in solidarity with women critics of the other culture in order to both interpret texts and increase understanding and visibility. Palabras clave: ecocrítica empírico-filosófica, consiliencia, E.O. Wilson, biosemiótica, teoría del riesgo, filosofía de la biología, historicismo medioambiental, teoría ecocrítica de la consiliencia. ¿Hasta qué punto la crítica literaria ecofeminista desarrollada en los países occidentales puede aplicarse a otras culturas? Son necesarias varias consideraciones: en primer lugar, la limitación del lenguaje como sistema de símbolos influido por el contexto hace muy difícil la interpretación de textos críticos y literarios, una dificultad que se incrementa por la necesidad de traducción a otro sistema de símbolos con contexto propio. Además, las diferencias de poder  y del posicionamiento del sujeto como autores, traductores, críticos y lectores, también influyen la producción y recepción de los textos. Un crítico occidental se convierte en un foráneo al interpretar la literatura de otra lengua y cultura. Una posible estrategia para salvar las diferencias culturales es trabajar en solidaridad con mujeres críticas de la otra cultura con el fin de tanto interpretar textos como de aumentar la comprensión y la visibilidad de textos y labor crítica

New ecocriticisms: narrative, affective, empirical and mindful

What seem like “new” developments in Ecocriticism have actually been nascent, articulated in conversations and blogs, soon emerging in presentations and print over the past five or more years. Responding to climate change numbing, ecocritics have explored the potential “arithmetic of compassion” (Slovic & Slovic 2015) and the “caring exhaustion” that arises when the numbers of those suffering—humans, animals, ecosystems—becomes too high to encompass. Human responses to the increasingly frightening scenarios of climate change futures have been termed “eco-anxiety” and “eco-grief” (Hutner 2015; Ray 2019). New developments in ecocriticism arise through the nexus of econarratology, affective ecocriticism, empirical ecocriticism, and mindful /Zen ecocriticism. I discuss this continuing trajectory in ecocriticism, developing from econarrative through ecoaffect (approaches that describe readers’ responses to climate change narratives) and on to empirical and mindful / Zen ecocriticisms (approaches that seek to offer strategies for responding to climate change narratives through affect, activism, and contemplative approaches, and for evaluating the efficacy of those strategies).Lo que parecen “nuevos” desarrollos en el campo de la ecocrítica han sido, en realidad, un conjunto de ideas emergentes articuladas en conversaciones y blogs que han tenido una pronta transliteración en presentaciones y publicaciones en los últimos cinco años o más. Respondiendo al entumecimiento del cambio climático, los ecocríticos han explorado el potencial de la “aritmética de la compasión” (Slovic & Slovic 2015) y el “agotamiento de la preocupación” que surgen cuando los números de los que sufren—humanos, animales, ecosistemas—son demasiado grandes como para comprenderlos. Las respuestas humanas a los escenarios cada vez más aterradores del futuro del cambio climático han sido llamados “eco-duelo” (Hutner 2015) y “eco-ansiedad” (Ray 2019). Han surgido nuevos desarrollos en la ecocrítica a través del nexo de la econarratología, ecocrítica afectiva, ecocrítica empírica, y ecocrítica consciente/Zen. Este texto discute esta trayectoria continua en la ecocrítica, explorando desde el concepto de econarrativa a través del ecoafecto—acercamientos que describen las respuestas de los lectores a las narrativas del cambio climático—hasta las ecocríticas empíricas y conscientes/Zen, aquellas que abordan acercamientos que ofrecen tanto estrategias para responder a las narrativas del cambio climático a través de los acercamientos afectivo, activista y contemplativo, como metodologías para evaluar la eficacia de las mismas

What determines banks’ market power? Akerlof versus Herfindahl

We introduce a model analyzing how asymmetric information problems in a bank-loan market may evolve over the age of a borrowing firm. The model predicts a life-cycle pattern for banks’interest rate markup. Young firms pay a low or negative markup, thereafter the markup increases until it falls for old firms. Furthermore, the pattern of the life-cycle depends on the informational advantage of the inside bank and when more dispersed borrower information yields fiercer bank competition. By applying a new measure of the informational advantage of inside banks and a large sample of small Nor-wegian firms, we find empirical support for the predicted markup pattern. We disentangle effects of asymmetric information (Akerlof effect)from effects of a concentrated banking market(Herfindahl effect). Our results indicate that the interest rate markups are not influenced by bank market concentration.Banking, risk-pricing, lock-in

Grain wagon fill detection using ultrasonic sensors

To facilitate unloading on-the-go , a sensor package mounted to a combine harvester to allow for automatic unloading auger control was desired. A rotating array of four ultrasonic sensors was chosen over cameras because of dusty operating conditions and poor lighting. Static testing was done with the ultrasonic sensor package mounted on the combine harvester unloading auger viewing a wagon load of corn. A feature extraction process was devised which correctly segmented and identified wagon edges from the grain contained in the wagon. Once features were identified, a second order polynomial surface was fitted to the grain to extrapolate the grain surface. The grain fill level was then calculated. With this information, the unloading auger could be automatically turned off and its swing could be automatically controlled to avoid wagon edges and to fill the wagon evenly with grain

Literary Milk: Breastfeeding Across Race, Class, and Species in Contemporary U.S. Fiction

Although all infant mammals require mothers' milk, very little breastfeeding appears in U.S. literature. Why is this ecological and foundational part of early life so frequently backgrounded or made invisible? and why would this topic be significant for feminist ecocritics? To explore these questions, this essay discusses the few texts in 20th century U.S. literature that depict breastfeeding, pairing them by era--John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath (1939) and Meridel LeSueur's The Girl (1939), followed by Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon (1977) and Beloved (1987)--and concludes with a contemporary novel, Emma Donoghue's Room (2010). All of these texts depict breastfeeding in conditions of captivity and restricted freedoms. Under such conditions, breastfeeding and breastmilk take on added urgency as food, as emotional and psychological nurturance, and often as self-worth for the nursing mother, whose milk seems to be the only material she can control. Narrative texts providing examples of free mothers, from diverse races, classes, and species, able to choose whether, where, and how long to breastfeed their own offspring, do not yet appear in U.S. literature, possibly because the conditions for such cultural and economic freedoms have yet to exist

Experimental investigation of the effects of soil and environmental conditions on smouldering wildfires

Smouldering peat-wildfires are the largest fires on earth and are responsible for vast economic damage, negative health effects, and significant quantities of greenhouse gas emissions. Despite their importance, limited research has focused on understanding their dynamics. Here I systematically study the influence of the three most important soil conditions: moisture content, inorganic content, and density, as well as three prevalent natural environmental conditions: wind, slope and temperature. Two novel experimental rigs were developed to study these conditions: the shallow reactor, which facilitating the simultaneous measurement of both horizontal and in-depth spread, and the Experimental Low-temperature Smouldering Apparatus (ELSA) which enables, for the first time, the experimental study of arctic wildfires by studying smouldering in low temperature conditions. The data generated is such that I put forward a new unifying theory of the governing parameters of smouldering spread which explains the influence of all three major soil properties. Horizontal spread was found to be controlled by heat sink density (the energy required to heat the soil to burning temperatures), while in-depth spread was governed by the organic density. The study of wind and slope revealed that forward and uphill spread significantly influenced horizontal spread rates due to improved heat transfer and oxygen supply, while downhill slopes and wind opposite to the spread direction had no significant effect. Evidence was found to suggest that spread on a slope can be explained as a function of the angle of spread direction relative to a horizontal plane. For the first time, I revealed that decreased soil temperatures resulted in deeper depth of burning, and heat losses reduced the critical moisture content from 160% (with an insulated reactor base) to 120% (with a cold reactor base). Spread rate and peak temperature where negligibly affected by soil temperature, even sustaining in frozen soil conditions. This thesis provides a comprehensive study of factors influencing smouldering wildfires, providing insight and data which support a new theory of smouldering spread, improving our understanding of smouldering dynamics.Open Acces

Wetlandology: A Kid\u27s Book About Wetlands

What is a Wetland? You might think that any land that is wet would be a wetland, right? But if the occurrence of water was the only thing that made a wetland a wetland, then deeper parts of oceans and rivers would be considered wetlands. And we know that is not true! So, what actually makes a wetland a wetland? Wetlands are defined by three things: 1. Soil 2. Plants 3. Hydrology Wetlands are spread throughout Nebraska, but it is useful to identify some of the larger wetland complexes in the state. Wetlands can be found everywhere! All rivers and streams have wetlands. If you look at the map, many areas of Nebraska lie outside of a wetland complex, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t wetlands in those areas. From the busy cities of Omaha and Lincoln to the quiet rural towns, wetlands can be found