Examining the Status of Men of Color in California Community Colleges: Recommendations for State Policymakers

This report documents specific policy interventions that can be implemented in California to improve outcomes for men of color in community colleges. These recommendations were presented to the Assembly Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color in October 2013

Urban Principals’ Experiences and Perceptions of Teacher Effectiveness: An Analysis of Student Achievement, Hiring and Retention, and School Culture

In an effort to promote school improvement, principals have primarily focused on developing quality teachers as a method of enhancing the academic achievement of students. This article seeks to shed light on the experiences and per-ceptions of urban principals regarding teacher effectiveness. Specifically, this article focuses on principals’ outlooks on teachers’ in three areas: student achievement, hiring and retention, and school culture. Empirical data from this study was derived from a mixed-method cross sectional survey administered to urban school principals in Arizona and California. It was evident in this study that principals perceive teachers as either well qualified or very well qualified to educate urban students. These findings are incongruent with the greater literature on this topic which illustrates the quality of urban school teachers is in question in comparison to non-urban teachers. The implications of principals’ overwhelmingly positive outlook are discussed coupled with recommendations for future research

Determinants of Faculty-Student Engagement for Southeast Asian Men in Community College: An Exploratory Analysis

The purpose of this study was to examine determinants of faculty-student engagement for Southeast Asian men in community colleges. Using data derived from the Community College Survey of Men (CCSM), this study investigated faculty-student engagement for 140 Southeast Asian men attending community colleges in the United States. Five groupings of predictor variables were examined: background/defining, campus ethos, environmental, academic, and non-cognitive factors. Backwards multiple linear regression was employed to identify variables with significant contributions to the model. The final model converged on the eighth iteration and significantly predicted the outcome, accounting for 38% of the variance in faculty-student engagement. Findings indicated that faculty validation, stressful life events, action control, and use of academic advising and career counseling services were significant predictors of faculty-student engagement. Implications for community college practice and research are discussed

The Funding of Virtual Schools in Public Elementary and Secondary Education .

The advent of information technology throughout the United States has revolutionized the educational process and sparked the rapid growth of virtual education at the K-12 level in almost every state such that courses in every imaginable subject can now be offered outside the geographic constraints of school districts and traditional brick-and-mortar buildings

Advancing the Next Generation of Higher Education Scholars: An Examination of One Doctoral Classroom

Course content in graduate school is especially important in terms of helping students make progress toward a doctorate. However, content is merely one aspect of developing successful students. This article highlights the value of creating an affirming learning environment by discussing one graduate class on Qualitative Policy Research. The majority of student participants were graduate students of color. The authors discuss the pedagogical approaches guiding this course and outline ways in which the instructor served to create safe spaces that invited as well as validated diverse perspectives and made the research process transparent. These efforts resulted in the production of high quality research used as pilot studies for successful dissertation defenses, accepted presentations at scholarly conferences, and published articles in peer-reviewed journals. Throughout this article, suggestions for replicating a similar course environment are discussed

Developing Kaspar: a humanoid robot for children with Autism

In the late 1990s using robotic technology to assist children with Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASD) emerged as a potentially useful area of research. Since then the field of assistive robotics for children with ASD has grown considerably with many academics trialling different robots and approaches. One such robot is the humanoid robot Kaspar that was originally developed in 2005 and has continually been built upon since, taking advantage of technological developments along the way. A key principle in the development of Kaspar since its creation has been to ensure that all of the advances to the platform are driven by the requirements of the users. In this paper we discuss the development of Kaspar’s design and explain the rationale behind each change to the platform. Designing and building a humanoid robot to interact with and help children with ASD is a multidisciplinary challenge that requires knowledge of the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, Human–Computer Interaction (HCI), Child–Robot Interaction (CRI) and knowledge of ASD. The Kaspar robot has benefited from the wealth of knowledge accrued over years of experience in robot-assisted therapy for children with ASD. By showing the journey of how the Kaspar robot has developed we aim to assist others in the field develop such technologies further

Accelerated degradation of Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) composite materials for recycling applications

AbstractThe decomposition of Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is carried out at 623 K within 30 min using a co-solvent system comprising of ethanol and water. It has not previously been possible to carryout the decomposition of PEEK below 703 K in aqueous media. Decomposition is achieved using catalytic quantities of caesium carbonate (Cs2CO3), as low as 19 μmol ml−1, in a high pressure bomb reactor. Carbon fibres are separated from a PEEK/carbon fibre composite and analysed by SEM-EDX. A reaction scheme is proposed for the decomposition process, producing phenol and dibenzofuran as major products. Phenol is analysed quantitatively by means of HPLC, the identification of decomposition products is performed by GC–MS. Decomposition of PEEK at 7 K above its melt temperature using Generally Recognised as Safe (GRAS) solvents represents a significant advance in the recycling of end-of-life, contaminated and deteriorated thermoplastic composite materials

Counting carbon fibres by electrical resistance measurement

AbstractElectrical Impedance Measurement has been used to measure the diameter of single carbon fibres to within 3% of the actual value measured by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The precision of the technique developed also allows for the accurate determination of the number of fibres present in a carbon fibre bundle, such data are important for the calculation of fibre tensile strength from the tensile force applied to carbon fibre bundles. The impedance of a single carbon fibre and carbon fibre bundles of up to 20 fibres have been measured, with results showing good agreement with theoretical values. The impedance of multiple lengths of carbon fibres ranging from 80 to 300mm has also been studied, with the impedance being directly proportional to the fibre length, as per electrical theory. This technique will be suitable for determining the number of fibres in a virgin or recycled carbon fibre bundle