The School On Scroggy Road

A board board meeting had been called in the parlor of Tom Livingston\u27s home. A representative had come from each farm for miles around, for this was the much talked of meeting out of which would arise the answer everyone was waiting for - whether the farmers in the surrounding area would continue to bundle up their children each morning and ship them off to the nearest school at the county seat via a dilapidated school bus or whether something could be done to start the planning and erection of a school in their own district

Characterizing subsurface void spaces and water distribution and flow patterns in Cave Hill Karst using resistivity

Describing the distribution of groundwater is essential in understanding the evolution of geomorphologic features in karst topography. Electrical resistivity allows us to find a model of subsurface distribution of resistivity that enables the visual recognition of groundwater and void spaces. The purpose of this research is to implement electrical resistivity to describe the spatial relationship of groundwater and karstic features at Grand Caverns National Natural Landmark, Grottoes, Virginia. Two locations of interest, a karstic swale and sinkhole area, were identified for the deployment of electrical resistivity. Both, dipole-dipole and Schlumberger arrays were collected for each deployment. A total of ten deployments, consisting of 14, 28, and 56 -electrodes spaced 6.25 m apart, were conducted in and/or around the features at both locations. Collected arrays were merged and inverted using AGI EarthImager 2D-Inversion Software. Geologic cross-sections were created for each location with collected strike and dip data and field observations made throughout the park. These along with geospatial digital elevation model data were used to correlate inverted resistivity sections to surface features. The results indicate that bedding geometry and rock type are controlling the water flow patterns and type of karstic features on Cave Hill. Groundwater escapes the southwestern portion of the hill by flowing along shallowly dipped bedding planes with the trend of plunge. The formation of the swale is likely due to collapse of long and narrow conduits created from this flow pattern. The results also show that two steeply-dipping confining beds hinder the expulsion of surface and groundwater from the northwestern portion of Cave Hill. This water is collected in perched aquifers situated above the Caverns and bellow sinkholes that have formed along the confining beds. These aquifers likely feed water to the Caverns both from slow percolation and directly through conduits

Light-Syntax Zones in Daylit Café Spaces: A Novel Method for Understanding Occupancy

This thesis proposes a novel method for understanding occupancy in public indoor spaces by creating hybrid light-syntax zones, based on both simulated illuminance data and simulated configuration data. Yearly illuminance profiles and spatial syntax characteristics such as physical connectivity and visual integration were examined to develop zones which theoretically have similar occupancy rates to one another. To support the light-syntax zone concept, a case study was performed in a student cafe on a university campus. Occupancy and exterior light conditions were observed for thirteen days. Occupancy rates were mapped to each seat within the cafe and analyzed for correlations with the light- syntax zone data. A significant difference was found in the occupancy rates between different exterior light conditions (direct light present, rapidly changing/intermediate, diffuse light present) in the test cafe. A slight negative correlation was found between occupancy rates and integration and physical connectivity values, which seems to indicate that the cafe users are seeking out the most secluded spaces. However, higher illuminance values also show a correlation with higher occupancy ratios. Given the map of the space, it is possible that these two variables are confounded. Further studies are necessary to determine the validity of light-syntax zones as a tool for predicting relative occupancy within an indoor space

Circadian Effects of Daylighting in a Residential Environment

This paper examines the effects of housing design upon the amount of natural light available for cuing of the human circadian system. It further assesses whether the conditions present in historic Boston row houses, when considered in the context of human moving around, can be adapted to provide sufficient light to maintain occupants' circadian rhythms. While software has been developed to simulate the amount of light in lux or lumens being received on a sensor point, these programs have generally been used to calculate the light received on a static, horizontal surface, such as a desk or other workspace. For the sake of determining a room's circadian potential, however, the sensor used must be vertical, as is the human eye during the day, and must be able to both rotate and translate – i.e. it must move forward and backward in a room and turn to face different viewpoints, as a human user does. Based on a series of simulations which take into account these factors it is possible to offer suggestions for both restoration and future design

Modelling 'non-visual' effects of daylighting in a residential environment

The importance of light not only as a therapeutic tool but as an essential element of healthy living has been highlighted by the recent discovery of a specialized photoreceptor in the eye responsible for synchronizing our internal circadian pacemaker. This pigment, melanopsin, differs from visual receptors in several characteristics, here simplified into a blue-shifted spectral sensitivity and a dose-response curve established from night-time studies. While a vast range of tools has been developed to simulate the amount of light in lux or lumens falling on a static, horizontal surface, corneal exposure estimates are needed for modelling the biological responses to light in space, which require a vertical sensor that can rotate and translate as a human eye does. This paper examines the effects of housing design upon the amount of daylight available for maintaining synchronization of the human circadian system considered in conjunction with human movement, using historic Boston row houses as a case study. Based on a series of simulations taking into account the two above-mentioned characteristics of the non-visual system, this paper proposes a preliminary workflow for suggestions regarding lighting restoration and opens new perspectives on future variables to include. This study found that even modest renovations like painting the space a lighter colour have a noticeable impact on the light received by a moving sensor. More aggressive design choices, such as not using the basement floor of the house for apartments, raise the amount and timing of light received to nearly the level of the best-case scenario

Operational Research in Education

Operational Research (OR) techniques have been applied, from the early stages of the discipline, to a wide variety of issues in education. At the government level, these include questions of what resources should be allocated to education as a whole and how these should be divided amongst the individual sectors of education and the institutions within the sectors. Another pertinent issue concerns the efficient operation of institutions, how to measure it, and whether resource allocation can be used to incentivise efficiency savings. Local governments, as well as being concerned with issues of resource allocation, may also need to make decisions regarding, for example, the creation and location of new institutions or closure of existing ones, as well as the day-to-day logistics of getting pupils to schools. Issues of concern for managers within schools and colleges include allocating the budgets, scheduling lessons and the assignment of students to courses. This survey provides an overview of the diverse problems faced by government, managers and consumers of education, and the OR techniques which have typically been applied in an effort to improve operations and provide solutions

War and Presidential Greatness

The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2029774Historians and journalists commonly survey other historians on the relative greatness of American presidents, and these rankings show remarkable consis- tency between surveys. In this paper we consider commonalities between highly ranked presidents and compare plausible determinants of greatness according to historians. We nd that a strong predictor of greatness is the fraction of American lives lost in war during a presidents tenure. We nd this predictor to be robust and compare favorably to other predictors used in previous historical research. We discuss potential reasons for this correlation and conclude with a discussion of how historians views might a ect policy