Raising the Bar on Training at Valparaiso University

We have recently overhauled our IT training program that we offer our students, faculty and staff. In the past, the training program consisted of sessions about changes to campus systems or sessions related to very specific software uses such as mail merge or tables. Users can now expect that training will be more than software use and how-to’s. We have started looking at ways to enhance our clients overall use of campus technology. As we examined ways to better serve our campus community, we engaged in qualitative observations in many areas. We examined how our graduate students were using technology to collaborate. The faculty were observed by our training staff to see how they were employing campus technology in courses and integrating technology into their assignments given to students. We interviewed our Help Desk Student Consultants to see what they observed as major training goals throughout the campus based on their interactions with clients. Upon completion of our observations, we outline our course development plans for increasing technology integration and full use of our campus technology offerings to further our mission of enhancing learning, teaching and job function through technology. Our goal is to reach beyond the software functionality and take our clients to the apex of relevance and application

Pervious Pavement Systems for High Traffic Roadways

This report highlights the benefits and detriments of pervious pavement systems through research of existing knowledge and multifaceted experiments to determine the feasibility of implementing a pervious pavement system on high traffic roadways. With over 40,000 miles of highway in the United States alone and severe water crises in states like California and growing environmental and safety concerns, the need for pervious pavements is abundantly clear. The research conducted utilizes existing knowledge on pervious pavements and applies it to the application of high traffic roadways. The experiment tests four different pervious concrete mix designs to determine compressive strength and water infiltration rates. This report ultimately concludes that pervious pavement systems can be used for high traffic roadways in open areas, where water can drain from the reservoir layer without the need for auxiliary drainage. Modifying infrastructure in urban areas that would require an auxiliary drainage means is not cost effective or practical. The experiment found that the mix designs tested could not structurally support highway level traffic; however with modifications to the experiment a suitable mix could be achieved. The experiment showed that the flow rate through all four mix designs was adequate to serve as a pervious pavement

The impact of tool allocation policies on selected performance measures for flexible manufacturing systems

The allocation of cutting tools to machines is an important concern for managers of flexible manufacturing systems. This research was conducted to study the impact of four tool allocation strategies on five performance measures, contingent upon three part-type selection rules. In addition, the average tool inventory and tool consumption rates were evaluated for each tool policy and selection rule. The four tool allocation policies consisted of the bulk exchange, tool migration, tool sharing, and resident tooling. The five performance measures consisted of the average flowtime of parts, the average machine utilization, the robot utilization, the percentage of parts late, and the mean lateness. Simulation was used to study the impact of the tooling strategies on the performance measures. Analysis of variance procedures, graphical comparison charts and Bonferroni multiple comparison tests were used to analyze the data. The results show that clustering tools, based on group technology, is the preferred method for allocating cutting tools to machines. Tool sharing was the preferred tool allocation strategy. Also, tool allocation policies that require tool changes, after a part\u27s machining cycle, increase part flowtimes because parts are delayed in the system due to the increase in tool changing activities. In addition, tool allocation strategies based on tool clustering methods reduced the utilization of resources. The results of this study show that bulk exchange produced lower tool consumption rates per production period during the early periods of production. During the middle and later production periods, tool sharing produced lower tool consumption rates. This study concluded that grouping tools based on the commonality of tool usage results in a lower average inventory per production period. Furthermore, this study showed that the uneven distribution of part-types to machine, under tool clustering methods, affected the average mean lateness of part-type. Moreover, no part-type selection rule outperformed another on ail performance measures. The earliest due date rule produced the lowest mean lateness values for all tool policies. Tool policies that produce low mean flowtimes may not produce low mean lateness values. Managerial implications are discussed with respect to the findings from this study. Further research is needed to evaluate flexible manufacturing systems, which include using different part-type selection rules, machine failures, and hybrids of tool allocation strategies

Multiscale probability mapping: groups, clusters and an algorithmic search for filaments in SDSS

We have developed a multiscale structure identification algorithm for the detection of overdensities in galaxy data that identifies structures having radii within a user-defined range. Our "multiscale probability mapping" technique combines density estimation with a shape statistic to identify local peaks in the density field. This technique takes advantage of a user-defined range of scale sizes, which are used in constructing a coarse-grained map of the underlying fine-grained galaxy distribution, from which overdense structures are then identified. In this study we have compiled a catalogue of groups and clusters at 0.025 < z < 0.24 based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Data Release 7, quantifying their significance and comparing with other catalogues. Most measured velocity dispersions for these structures lie between 50 and 400 km/s. A clear trend of increasing velocity dispersion with radius from 0.2 to 1 Mpc/h is detected, confirming the lack of a sharp division between groups and clusters. A method for quantifying elongation is also developed to measure the elongation of group and cluster environments. By using our group and cluster catalogue as a coarse-grained representation of the galaxy distribution for structure sizes of <~ 1 Mpc/h, we identify 53 filaments (from an algorithmically-derived set of 100 candidates) as elongated unions of groups and clusters at 0.025 < z < 0.13. These filaments have morphologies that are consistent with previous samples studied.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures and 6 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Data products, three-dimensional visualisations and further information about MSPM can be found at http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/sifa/Main/MSPM/ . v2 contains two additional references. v3 has a slightly altered title and updated reference

Quantized Friction across Ionic Liquid Thin Films

Ionic liquids, salts in the liquid state under ambient conditions, are of great interest as precision lubricants. Ionic liquids form layered structures at surfaces, yet it is not clear how this nano-structure relates to their lubrication properties. We measured the friction force between atomically smooth solid surfaces across ionic liquid films of controlled thickness in terms of the number of ion layers. Multiple friction-load regimes emerge, each corresponding to a different number of ion layers in the film. In contrast to molecular liquids, the friction coefficients differ for each layer due to their varying composition

Innovative Approaches to Emergency Medical Services Fellowship Challenges

Introduction: Since the development of an Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited emergency medical services (EMS) fellowship, there has been little published literature on effective methods of content delivery or training modalities. Here we explore a variety of innovative approaches to the development and revision of the EMS fellowship curriculum.Methods: Three academic, university-based ACGME-accredited EMS fellowship programs each implemented an innovative change to their existing training curricula. These changes included the following: a novel didactic curriculum delivery modality and evaluation; implementation of a distance education program to improve EMS fellows’ rural EMS experiences; and modification of an existing EMS fellowship curriculum to train a non-emergency medicine physician.Results: Changes made to each of the above EMS fellowship programs addressed unique challenges, demonstrating areas of success and promise for more generalized implementation of these curricula. Obstacles remain in tailoring the described curricula to the needs of each unique institution and system.Conclusion: Three separate curricula and program changes were implemented to overcome specific challenges and achieve educational goals. It is our hope that our shared experiences will enable others in addressing common barriers to teaching the EMS fellowship core content and share similar innovative approaches to educational challenges

Developing Copyright Policy: A Guide for Liberal Arts Colleges

Copyright law is complex and subject to varying interpretations, so developing a campus-wide copyright policy can seem like a daunting task. This guide is designed to help make the process more manageable for deans, librarians, IT staff, faculty, and anyone else charged with developing a copyright policy guide for their liberal arts college. The guide was commissioned and produced by The Oberlin Group of Libraries (www.oberlingroup.org) and the Consortium of Liberal Art Colleges (www.liberalarts.org). Contributing editors were Laurie Kumerow and Iris Jastram. The intent of this guide is not to prescribe exactly what your institutional policy should look like or include, because each college’s needs are different. Instead, this guide is intended to guide you through the thinking and decisions required to develop a sound policy

Ethyl 4-benzyloxycarbonyl-5-[2,2-bis(benzyloxycarbonyl)vinyl]-3- methylpyrrole-2-carboxylate

The crystal structure of the title compound, C34H 31NO8, is stabilized by intramolecular C-H⋯O and N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, intermolecular C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, and C-H⋯π and π-π interactions. © 2006 International Union of Crystallography. All rights reserved