Eliminating Social Homelessness: Providing a Home to Grow

Middle school students who belong to marginalized identity groups often experience alienation and isolation. These feelings are compounded for multi-marginalized students who experience social homelessness–a term Harrison (2015) uses to describe students who appear to be accepted in one or more social categories but, because of his or her competing identities, is unable to fully participate in the life of the social group without hiding a part of his or her identity. In addition to this internalized struggle, emerging research indicates that socially homeless students are at an increased risk for bullying and academic failure. Inspired by the need to build homes for students experiencing social homelessness and our professional experiences with student alienation and underachievement, we created a school-wide house system to promote healthy peer relationships for middle grades students. This essay details the motivation and processes behind creating a school-wide house system that promotes a growth mindset and fosters a positive school culture that is inclusive of all students

Measuring Access to Employment to Guide and Evaluate Public Transit Service Planning in New Orleans

New software and technology is making it easier than ever before for public transportation planners to evaluate how quickly residents can reach jobs and other destinations. Because in the past it was difficult to measure access to opportunities, these concepts remained primarily in the theoretical and academic realms of research. This thesis reviews methods that could be used to evaluate routine bus service improvements and performs a comparative analysis of different methods in the context of New Orleans. There are many different variables in how the analysis could be performed, but this thesis focuses on the role that time of day plays in analyzing service changes. The results show that accessibility can be a very useful metric to evaluate the effectiveness of transit service changes. It goes on to explore techniques that could assist transit planners and schedulers to identify service gaps and prioritize service changes

Measuring Access to Employment to Guide and Evaluate Public Transit Service Planning in New Orleans

New software and technology is making it easier than ever before for public transportation planners to evaluate how quickly residents can reach jobs and other destinations. Because in the past it was difficult to measure access to opportunities, these concepts remained primarily in the theoretical and academic realms of research. This thesis reviews methods that could be used to evaluate routine bus service improvements and performs a comparative analysis of different methods in the context of New Orleans. There are many different variables in how the analysis could be performed, but this thesis focuses on the role that time of day plays in analyzing service changes. The results show that accessibility can be a very useful metric to evaluate the effectiveness of transit service changes. It goes on to explore techniques that could assist transit planners and schedulers to identify service gaps and prioritize service changes

Design, Integration and Control of Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer for Wind Based Renewable Energy Applications

This research endeavor began with the design and construction of a new hydrogen test facility at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). To improve the electrical link of wind-based electrolysis the characterization of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) elect) /zer under varying input power was performed at NRELs new test facility. The commercially available electrolyzer from Proton Energy Systems (PES) was characterized using constant direct current (DC), sinusoidally varying DC, photovoltaics and variable magnitude and frequency energy from a 10 kW wind turbine. At rated stack current and ~ 40°C the system efficiency of the commercial electrolyzer was measured to be 55%. At lower stack current it was shown that commercial electrolyzer system efficiency falls because of the continuous hydrogen purge (-0.1 Nm3 hr\u271) used to maintain the hydrogen desiccant drying system. A novel thermoelectric-based dew point controller is designed and modeled to reduce the penalty to renewable sources because they do not always operate at 100% of rated stack current. It is predicted that the thermoelectric design when operated 100% of the time at full current to the thermoelectric modules would consume 3.1 kWh kg\u271 of hydrogen. Using the higher heating value of hydrogen and a stack efficiency of 60% to produce the hydrogen that is continuously vented, the desiccant system consumes about 5.7 kWh kg\u271. Design of the UND electrolyzer sub-systems responsible for all aspects of water, power to the stack, and hydrogen conditioning enables more flexible and precise experimental data to be obtained than from an off-the-shelf system. Current-voltage (IV) characteristic curves were obtained on the UND system at temperatures between 7 ~ 70°C. The anode and cathode exchange current densities are fitted to 2.0 E-06 e0\u2704jT and 0.12 e0026T A cm 2 respectively. Stack conductivity was fitted to 0.001T + 0.03 S cm 1. The three coefficients represent physical stack parameters and are extracted fiorn the temperature dependent IV curves and the Butler-Volmer equation as the model using the Levenberg-Marquardt nonlinear curve fitting algorithm. The characterization, dew point controller and modeling work will enable improved efficiency, cost reductions and better modeling of the wind to electrolysis system

Understanding political ideas and movements

Written specifically to cover the A2 component of the GCE Government and Politics A-level, this book is a comprehensive introduction to the political ideas and movements that have shaped the modern world. Underpinned by the work of major thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke, Marx, Mill, Weber and others, the first half of the book looks at political concepts including the state and sovereignty, the nation, democracy, representation and legitimacy, freedom, equality and rights, obligation and citizenship. There is also a specific chapter which addresses the role of ideology in the shaping of politics and society. The second half of the book addresses traditional theoretical subjects such as socialism, Marxism and nationalism, before moving on to more contemporary movements such as environmentalism, ecologism and feminism. The subject is covered in a clear, accessible style, and includes a number of student-friendly features, such as chapter summaries, key points to consider, definitions and tips for further sources of information. There is a definite need for a text of this kind. It will be invaluable for students of government and politics at introductory level