An Investigation of the Relationship between District Wealth and Student Achievement

Since the state of Missouri has twice been sued by the Committee for Educational Equity, this study was undertaken to determine if district wealth or district expenditures have any statistical impact on student performance. All of the subjects are Missouri public school districts and all of the data reviewed was from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education or from the internet school ranking site, Schooldigger.com. Two data sets were reviewed. First the Assessed Valuation per Pupil, the Expenditure per Pupil and the Annual Performance Report data from the time of the first lawsuit were reviewed for any correlations. Second, the Assessed Valuation per Pupil and the Expenditures per Pupil from the time of the second lawsuit were reviewed for potential correlation to the Schooldigger.com district ranking. The only significant correlation found was the negative correlation between Assessed Valuation per Pupil and Schooldigger.com ranking (‐.263 with Sig. of .000). The study concluded that student achievement cannot be statistically tied to district wealth or expenditures, within the given parameters

Mobilities of injected ions in liquid water

The original objectives of this project were to develop methods for measuring the mobility of ions in water by means of ion injection techniques with the ultimate goal of using these data to investigate the feasibility of using the Hall effect to measure impurity ion mobilities at dilute ionic concentrations. A number of preliminary studies proved to be necessary in order to accomplish the primary goals. These experiments which have been completed include ion mobility studies in water vapor, studies of corona discharges from fine points in water vapor, injection of ions into water using corona methods, and ejection of ions from water into water vapor. These measurements were performed for both positive and negative ions. Results indicate that injection techniques using coronas are not suitable for ion mobility measurements in water because injected charge densities are insufficient to overcome the natural conductivity of water even in its purest state. On the other hand, these studies have yielded new information which appear to be relevant to nucleation studies.Project # A-047-MO Agreement # 14-31-0001-352

Student Projects as a Funding Source

Prompted by restricted funding for a lab which supported student software development work on real-world projects, a contribution program was established to facilitate monetary support from the external clients. The paper explores the relationships between instructor, students and client and how a funding component can affect these ties. Instructors who follow the guidelines provided can be successful with such a fund raising approach, but specific legal, ethical and organizational entanglements may disrupt these relationships and so should be avoided

Drought as a Component of Local Hazard Mitigation Plans: Are the 100 Fastest Growing Counties Ready?

Drought is one of the most destructive natural disasters that threatens nearly every environment on earth. Between 1980 and 2011 there were 16 drought events in the United States with impacts that exceeded $1 billion with an average event cost of$12.2 billion according to the National Climate Data Center. While many states have engaged in the creation of drought plans, little research has been done regarding drought planning at the local level. This research examines the local planning efforts in 62 of the 100 fastest growing counties in the United States from 2000 to 2009. It is expected that the rate of population growth and intensive land development in these counties will result in larger, more frequent demands for quality water resources while decreasing the resiliency of these counties following future drought events. In an effort to review the current preparedness level of these locations, Local Hazard Mitigation Plans were empirically evaluated using a matrix with measureable indicators. The matrix was developed to examine the integration of drought planning elements as a component of the Local Hazard Mitigation Plans. The findings of this research indicate that drought preparedness and planning, when done, is frequently fractured and lacking a comprehensiveness that is necessary for meaningful impact and effectiveness for their area. This may suggest that many municipalities remain unprepared to face drought when it strikes. Results of this research should serve as a snapshot of what is currently being done in the field of drought planning in the realm of local planners and emergency managers, and is hoped to help increase awareness of changes that could be made to improve preparation, resiliency, and decrease the stress effects of future droughts. Adviser: Zhenghong Tan

Medicalized Childbirth in the United States: Origins, Outcomes, and Opposition

This study focuses on childbirth in the United States as a medical event, specifically concentrating on the historical development of medicalized birth and the cultural and social ramifications of this transformation. The main objective is to apply various aspects of social movement theory and movement dynamics to the rise of obstetric medicine as it is documented in the existing body of childbirth literature, in order to achieve a greater understanding of the appropriation of American childbirth practices by the medical profession. Also included is a discussion of various birth reform movements that have attempted, and are attempting, to challenge the medical monopoly of childbirth in the United States

FollowMe: A Bigraphical Approach

In this paper we illustrate the use of modelling techniques using bigraphs to specify and refine elementary aspects of the FollowMe framework. This framework provides the seamless migration of bi-directional user interfaces for users as they navigate between zones within an intelligent environment

Towards FollowMe User Profiles for Macro Intelligent Environments

We envision an Ambient Intelligent Environment as an environment with technology embedded within the framework of that environment to help enhance an users experience in that environment. Existing implementations , while working effectively, are themselves an expensive and time consuming investment. Applying the same expertise to an environment on a monolithic scale is very inefficient, and thus, will require a different approach. In this paper, we present this problem, propose theoretical solutions that would solve this problem, with the guise of experimentally verifying and comparing these approaches, as well as a formal method to model the entire scenario