Planning school lunch workshops

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Their memory:exploring veterans’ voices, virtual reality and collective memory

This paper focuses on the virtual reality (VR) project Their Memory and details the development and evaluation of virtual reality environments and experiences with respect to its impact on young people (14-35 demographic) with the narratives of veterans in Scotland. As part of the AHRC Immersive Experiences program, Their Memory was created to explore how game design techniques and immersive technology could be used to enhance existing historical research and enrich narratives to bring expansive experiences to hard-to-reach audiences. The project worked directly with the veterans’ charity, Poppyscotland, to create an environment and experience that would resonate with new audiences, and explore documentary and storytelling techniques for the commemoration of war and conflict. The design of the project evolved through co-design sessions with veterans and young people and culminated in the creation of a short, thought-provoking, narrative-driven experience. The VR experience enabled players to connect with the memories of veterans in Scotland and exploring the different conflicts or situations they experienced and how they make sense of them. The project brought together cross-sector expertise to research how immersive experiences can help memory-based organizations in engaging with wider audiences, raise awareness, and diversify current learning outputs. The paper details the design and development of the Virtual Reality project, through co-design, and how this engaged the audience and evolved the experience created. The paper includes a summative evaluation of events conducted with schoolchildren to assess the project and concludes with how the project evidences impact upon audiences and the potential for both technology and the experience

Space Station Freedom solar array panels plasma interaction test facility

The Space Station Freedom Power System will make extensive use of photovoltaic (PV) power generation. The phase 1 power system consists of two PV power modules each capable of delivering 37.5 KW of conditioned power to the user. Each PV module consists of two solar arrays. Each solar array is made up of two solar blankets. Each solar blanket contains 82 PV panels. The PV power modules provide a 160 V nominal operating voltage. Previous research has shown that there are electrical interactions between a plasma environment and a photovoltaic power source. The interactions take two forms: parasitic current loss (occurs when the currect produced by the PV panel leaves at a high potential point and travels through the plasma to a lower potential point, effectively shorting that portion of the PV panel); and arcing (occurs when the PV panel electrically discharges into the plasma). The PV solar array panel plasma interaction test was conceived to evaluate the effects of these interactions on the Space Station Freedom type PV panels as well as to conduct further research. The test article consists of two active solar array panels in series. Each panel consists of two hundred 8 cm x 8 cm silicon solar cells. The test requirements dictated specifications in the following areas: plasma environment/plasma sheath; outgassing; thermal requirements; solar simulation; and data collection requirements

Evaluating the Effects of Mergers and Acquisitions on Employees: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data

The unit of analysis in empirical studies of the employment and wage effects of mergers and acquisitions is typically the plant or firm. In contrast, the unit of observation in this study is the individual worker, which allows us to provide direct, systematic empirical evidence on the effects of different types of mergers and acquisitions on employees. Specifically, we analyze linked employer employee data for the entire population of Swedish workers and over 19,000 manufacturing plants for the period 1985-1998. For each worker, we have data on gender, age, national origin, level of education, type of education, location, industrial sector, annual earnings, as well as each employee’s complete work history both before and after a merger or acquisition. We can also identify whether the plant was involved in a full or partial acquisition or divestiture, as well as a related or unrelated acquisition. The empirical evidence suggests that employee outcomes are more favorable when only part of the company is bought or sold or when the firm engages in an unrelated acquisition.

AN ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF PRICE ON RESIDENTIAL WATER DEMAND: METROPOLITAN MIAMI, FLORIDA

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Assessing the Effects of Mergers and Acquisitions on Firm Performance, Plant Productivity, and Workers: New Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data

Studies of the effects of mergers and acquisitions focus on a single unit of analysis: firms, plants, or workers. In contrast, we model these events as transactions that simultaneously have cross-levels effects. Based on the theory of human capital, we generate a set of predictions regarding the antecedents and consequences of firm, plant, and worker turnover. Our empirical analysis is based on longitudinal, linked employer-employee data for virtually the entire population of Swedish manufacturing firms and employees for the period 1985-1998. These data allow us to assess the effects of mergers and acquisitions on firm performance, plant productivity, levels of employment, and compensation. Consistent with human capital theory, we find that mergers and acquisitions lead to improvements in firm performance and plant productivity, although they also result in the downsizing of establishments and firms. These transactions also appear to enhance the careers of workers because they provide a mechanism for improving the sorting and matching or workers and managers to firms and industries that best suit their skills.

Symbolic and analytic techniques for resource analysis of Java bytecode

Recent work in resource analysis has translated the idea of amortised resource analysis to imperative languages using a program logic that allows mixing of assertions about heap shapes, in the tradition of separation logic, and assertions about consumable resources. Separately, polyhedral methods have been used to calculate bounds on numbers of iterations in loop-based programs. We are attempting to combine these ideas to deal with Java programs involving both data structures and loops, focusing on the bytecode level rather than on source code

Design And Execution Of A Religious Mural

29 leave

Social Hierarchy in Wintering Harris\u27 Sparrows

Dominance has a major role in social organization and has probably important survival value. Dominance is important in decreasing conflicts, regulating population densities, foraging, establishment of territories, reproduction, and care of young. The main objectives of the investigation were to determine (1) the order of dominance; (2) whether or not age, sex and body weight were correlated with social dominance; (3) the status of an individual removed for an interval and then reintroduced into the flock; and (4) the effect upon an established hierarchy by introducing birds of same species, and birds of different species. Thirty-six Harris’ Sparrows, twenty-one adults and fifteen immature, were captured and placed in observation cages. Each cage contained six birds. Other species used in the study were White-crowned Sparrows and an Oregon Junco. A social hierarchy of the “peck-right” type exists among Harris’ Sparrows. Peck-orders were of a linear type with some triangles. Reversals in dominance occurred primarily among the more subordinate birds. Age, sex, weight, and residence in the cages showed no relationship with status in the hierarchies. Slightness of molt may have been a factor influencing dominance. Birds reintroduced after intervals of seven to sixteen day returned to their original positions in their social hierarchies. Status of introduced Harris’ Sparrows was dependent upon the aggressiveness of the new birds. The Harris’ Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, and an Oregon Junco behaved as a single flock and had an interspecific hierarchy. White-crowns dominated each flock, and the junco was subordinate to each group