Increasing Transparency within City Government Using Blockchain Technology

When the news or a friend mentions blockchain technology, is it typically always referenced in the context of cryptocurrency? While cryptocurrencies do rely on blockchain technology to record financial transactions between people and businesses, 1 government agencies have begun testing how blockchain technology could improve the lives of constituents.2 A notable advantage of implementing blockchain technology within government, however, is that it has the possibility to prevent corruption due to its very nature.3 The City and County of San Francisco has been the latest victim of government corruption in recent years, 4 with the most recent scandal involving the indictment of a major city developer for allegedly bribing three former building inspectors to obtain permits and expedite inspections.5 Despite enacting the Sunshine Ordinance as a guideline to avoid corruption,6 corruption still seems to fester in San Francisco’s local government continuously.7 This paper will explore how blockchain can be implemented to strengthen the goals of the Sunshine Ordinance and hopefully, solve San Francisco’s corruption problem

Implementing Peer-Review Activities for Engineering Writing Assignments

Professional engineers spend a considerable portion of their day writing, yet disciplinary writing skills are not addressed in many engineering courses. This study investigates peer review as a mean to enhance student writing in engineering courses. Students completed formative peer reviews using an online peer review system for a group project in a fluid mechanics course (with online and face-to-face sections) and for an individual writing assignment in a senior capstone class in mechanical engineering. A university-wide rubric for disciplinary writing was used to assess student writing performance on interim and final assignments completed over the course of a semester. Online surveys were used to assess student perceptions of the peer review process. The study was implemented over two semesters with iterative revisions in instruction made between semesters based on initial findings. Results suggest that peer review can increase student performance, as long as reflections are used to prompt student revision, regardless of the class delivery method or assignment type

Incidencia de la aplicaci?n de una secuencia did?ctica con enfoque CTSA en el desarrollo de pensamiento ambiental latinoamericano en estudiantes de grado octavo de la Instituci?n Educativa Francisco de Paula Santander.

216 p. Recurso Electr?nicoLa presente investigaci?n corresponde a una propuesta realizada durante los estudios de Maestr?a en Educaci?n Ambiental en la Universidad del Tolima, con el objetivo de determinar la incidencia de la aplicaci?n de una secuencia did?ctica en el desarrollo de pensamiento ambiental latinoamericano en estudiantes de grado octavo de una Instituci?n Educativa del municipio de Ibagu?. Para lograr este objetivo se trabaj? una secuencia did?ctica con enfoque ciencia, tecnolog?a, sociedad y ambiente, desde una metodolog?a de investigaci?n de tipo cualitativo bajo el dise?o investigaci?n ?acci?n. Dentro de los resultados obtenidos con la aplicaci?n de la secuencia did?ctica, se encontr? que los estudiantes reconoc?an m?s elementos dentro de su representaci?n de ambiente, se aproximaron a nuevas concepciones y distintas formas de trabajar la educaci?n ambiental y tener nuevas lecturas sobre lo que implican los problemas ambientales. Finalmente, con la investigaci?n se determin? que la secuencia did?ctica incidi? en el desarrollo de pensamiento ambiental latinoamericano al facilitar la aproximaci?n de los estudiantes a nuevas representaciones de ambiente, y al propiciar el trabajo de pensamiento cr?tico entorno a la relaci?n ciencia, tecnolog?a, sociedad y ambiente, abriendo posibilidades para que los estudiantes se involucren en la toma de decisiones responsables frente a los diferentes modelos o estilos de vida. Palabras claves: pensamiento ambiental latinoamericano, ambiente, educaci?n ambiental y secuencia CTSA.The current research corresponds to a proposal made during the Master's studies in Environmental Education at the University of Tolima, with the objective of determining the incidence while the application of a didactic sequence in the development of Latin American environmental thinking carried out with eight graders students from an Educational Institution in the municipality of Ibagu? city. In order to accomplish this goal, it was developed a didactic sequence with a focus on science, technology, society and the environment, from a qualitative research methodology under the research-action design. Within the results obtained with the application of the didactic sequence, It was found that students can recognize more elements within their environment representation, they approached new conceptions and different ways on how working environmental education and have new readings about what environmental problems involve. Finally, with the research, it was possible to determine that the didactic sequence had an impact on the development of Latin American environmental thinking by facilitating the students' to approach new representations of the environment, and by fostering critical thinking work around the relationship between science, technology, society and the environment; creating new possibilities for students to be part of the wise decision among different lifestyles that all the people have. Keywords: Latin American environmental thinking, environment, environmental education and CTSA sequence

Poetics of Justice: Using Art as Action and Analysis in Participatory Action Research

This article explores the use of art as a form of communication and meaning-making in participatory action research (PAR). The authors, researchers and educators, contemplate this concept through a pedagogical lens, and consider the role that visual and performing arts can play in social action. Based on the work of a youth-adult participatory action research collective, the authors reflect on the pedagogical process used to analyze research findings, take actions, and affect local change. Created to investigate opportunity to learn issues, the youth members of the collective created spoken word poetry, post-cards, film shorts, and speak-outs to engage multiple audiences in their research findings. By engaging art as an element of PAR, actions can travel visually, viscerally, and verbally with the potential to influence individuals, communities, and policies

Sleep-disordered breathing in children and adolescents with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and its association with executive functioning

The relationship between sleep-disordered breathing and executive functioning in children and adolescents with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) has not been wellstudied, despite literature referring to sleep problems in individuals with SLE. The goals of this study were to examine whether sleep-disordered breathing was more prevalent in children and adolescents with SLE compared to controls, whether there was an association between sleep-disordered breathing and executive functioning, and whether certain risk factors moderated or mediated this relationship.The SLE group consisted of 22 participants whose parents completed the study questionnaires (M age = 15.5, SD = 2.70, range = 9 - 18) and of which 17 completed the cognitive testing. Twenty-four controls from an attempted demographically matched population completed a subset of the questionnaires (M age = 14.2, SD = 1.96, range = 9 - 17). Parents of those with and without SLE completed the Sleep Disorders Inventory for Students (SDIS). Parents of those with SLE also completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and Depression and Anxiety in Youth Scale (DAYS). Participants with SLE completed the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Trail Making and Verbal Fluency tests and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV/Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III Digit Span test. Disease activity and disease severity variables were collected by chart review.Results from an independent samples t-test indicated that the SLE sample did not exhibit more sleep-disordered breathing symptoms than controls. For the SLE group, correlation analyses indicated that sleep-disordered breathing symptoms were positively associated with the BRIEF Global Executive Composite score. Multiple regression analyses to determine moderation and mediation in the relationship between sleepdisordered breathing and executive dysfunction were not conducted because of a small sample size.This study suggests that sleep-disordered breathing is not a major health concern for children and adolescents with SLE, but those with more symptoms of sleepdisordered breathing may exhibit more executive functioning difficulties. This study also suggests that the BRIEF, SDIS, and DAYS questionnaires may be useful screening measures for use with this population. Given several methodological limitations, findings are preliminary. Further research is needed that incorporates larger samples.Ph.D., Clinical Psychology -- Drexel University, 200

Examination of the Relationship between In-Store Environmental Factors and Fruit and Vegetable Purchasing among Hispanics.

Retail food environments have received attention for their influence on dietary behaviors and for their nutrition intervention potential. To improve diet-related behaviors, such as fruit and vegetable (FV) purchasing, it is important to examine its relationship with in-store environmental characteristics. This study used baseline data from the "El Valor de Nuestra Salud" study to examine how in-store environmental characteristics, such as product availability, placement and promotion, were associated with FV purchasing among Hispanic customers in San Diego County. Mixed linear regression models indicated that greater availability of fresh FVs was associated with a $0.36 increase in FV purchasing (p = 0.01). Placement variables, specifically each additional square foot of display space dedicated to FVs (p = 0.01) and each additional fresh FV display (p = 0.01), were associated with a$0.02 increase and $0.29 decrease, respectively, in FV purchasing. Introducing FV promotions in the final model was not related to FV purchasing. Exploratory analyses indicated that men reported spending$3.69 fewer dollars on FVs compared to women, controlling for covariates (p = 0.02). These results can help inform interventions targeting in-store environmental characteristics to encourage FV purchasing among Hispanics

The First Year of an Undergraduate Service Learning Partnership to Enhance Engineering Education and Elementary Pre-Service Teacher Education

This IUSE project was designed to address three major challenges faced by undergraduate engineering students (UES) and pre-service teachers (PSTs): 1) retention for UESs after the first year, and continued engagement when they reach more difficult concepts, 2) to prepare PSTs to teach engineering, which is a requirement in the Next Generation Science Standards as well as many state level standards of learning, and 3) to prepare both groups of students to communicate and collaborate in a multi-disciplinary context, which is a necessary skill in their future places of work. This project was implemented in three pairs of classes: 1) an introductory mechanical engineering class, fulfilling a general education requirement for information literacy and a foundations class in education, 2) fluid mechanics in mechanical engineering technology and a science methods class in education, and 3) mechanical engineering courses requiring programming (e.g., computational methods and robotics) with an educational technology class. All collaborations taught elementary level students (4th or 5th grade). For collaborations 1 and 2, the elementary students came to campus for a field trip where they toured engineering labs and participated in a one-hour lesson taught by both the UESs and PSTs. In collaboration 3, the UESs and PSTs worked with the upper-elementary students in their school during an afterschool club. In collaborations 1 and 2, students were assigned to teams and worked remotely on some parts of the project. A collaboration tool, built in Google Sites and Google Drive, was used to facilitate the project completion. The collaboration tool includes a team repository for all the project documents and templates. Students in collaboration 3 worked together directly during class time on smaller assignments. In all three collaborations lesson plans were implemented using the BSCS 5E instructional model, which was aligned to the engineering design process. Instruments were developed to assess knowledge in collaborations 1 (engineering design process) and 3 (computational thinking), while in collaboration 2, knowledge was assessed with questions from the fundamentals of engineering exam and a science content assessment. Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME) was also used in all 3 collaborations to assess teamwork across the collaborations. Finally, each student wrote a reflection on their experiences, which was used to qualitatively assess the project impact. The results from the first full semester of implementation have led us to improvements in the implementation and instrument refinement for year 2

EIPECK: Assessing Educators’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Engineering Integration in K-12

Global efforts are underway to include engineering in pre-college curricula. In the USA, this pursuit led to the inclusion of engineering content in the most recent version of the Next Generation Science Standards that guide K-12 science. As these standards become part of the K-12 curriculum, teachers face the challenge of gaining basic engineering literacy, while developing the associated inclusive pedagogies necessary to integrate engineering content into their classrooms. In this context, teacher preparation programs can benefit from easy-to-implement tools that measure preservice teachers’ readiness to integrate engineering content in their future classrooms. This work describes the development and validation of an instrument to help assess educators’ perceived levels of pedagogical content knowledge for engineering integration at single or multiple time points throughout their academic preparation. The proposed instrument can complement other assessment methods, such as classroom observations, interviews, and journal entries. Additionally, the instrument can be used to help discern the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs in preparing future teachers to integrate engineering

Portraying the hosts: Stellar science from planet searches

Information on the full session can be found on this website: https://sites.google.com/site/portrayingthehostscs18/We present a compendium of the splinter session on stellar science from planet searches that was organized as part of the Cool Stars 18 conference. Seven speakers discussed techniques to infer stellar information from radial velocity, transit and microlensing data, as well as new instrumentation and missions designed for planet searches that will provide useful for the study of the cool stars