Alien Registration- Smith, Mary L. (Mars Hill, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/34018/thumbnail.jp

Perceived Ideal Traits of a Mentor as Viewed By African American Students In Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

The purpose of this study was to examine undergraduate students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines perception of traits an ideal mentor should possess, and to determine if these traits had positive results on their identification with science. With a large number of workers in STEM disciplines retiring, there is a projected need for more underrepresented minorities to fill these positions. In order to increase diversity in the workforce, efforts must be made to retain underrepresented minorities in STEM education beginning at the undergraduate level and continuing throughout the graduate level. This intervention should begin as early as the freshman year and continue beyond the sophomore year, considering this group of students lose interest in STEM, exhibit a sense of hopelessness which in turn leads to these students changing their majors and/or leaving the discipline altogether. Increasing the representation of individuals from underrepresented groups in STEM fields is a function of pipeline flow (McGee et al., 2012), which is measured as the rate at which trainees enter and advance through the pipeline to the workforce. This study provided demographics of one hundred seventy five (175) students attending two private Historically Black institutions in the state of Alabama. Survey questions were structured to analyze quantitative data. This primary method of analysis utilized descriptive statistics to measure the most important indicators that influence students’ perceptions of an ideal mentor. The collection of quantitative data was adapted from instruments designed by Dr. Gail Rose (2003) and Dr. Sylvia James (2007). Rose (2003) Guidance, Integrity, and Relationship subscales were used to assess values that students placed on each subscale. Dr. James’ scale examined the role of identity and other sociocultural factors as causes of the science achievement gap for African American students. She further emphasized the importance of informal programs or non-school settings in promoting identities that are conducive to science learning in African Americans. Three research questions were considered. The overarching research question was, what ideal traits do students report as being the most important in an ideal mentor that could be a contributing factor in their persistence in STEM? Research question one was: to what degree do African American STEM students at two HBCUs in Alabama identify as a scientist as determined by Science Identity Scale Scores (SIS)? Research question two was, what is the relationship of Ideal Mentor Scale Scores (IMS) and Science Identity Scale Scores (SIS) among African American STEM students at these HBCUs? Frequency data and Pearson Correlation were used to analyze data that were obtained from the web-based surveys via Qualtrics. Findings from this study showed that students identified 11 of the 34 items from the Ideal Mentor Scale (Rose, 2003) as being ‘very’ and ‘extremely important’ as it relates to ideal traits of a mentor. However, in regards to research question one, study participants did not exhibit a strong identification with science. Research question two, when looking at the relationship between the Ideal Mentor Scale Scores and Science Identity Scale Scores, there was not a statistically significant relationship between the two, although there was a statistically significant relationship among the three subscales of guidance, relationship, and integrity, with students valuing integrity more so than guidance and relationship. Findings from the study also showed that ninety-nine of the participants in the study currently do not have a mentor. Consequently these students demonstrated the ability to give their perception of an ideal mentor. The two universities used in the research study were Tuskegee University and Stillman College. Recommendations from the study will be provided to both colleges and universities that have existing STEM mentoring programs as well as those that do not have STEM mentoring programs resulting from this data. Parents, and local, state, and federal government agencies will also benefit from the results of this study. Furthermore, the recommendations will provide said individuals with pertinent information describing the potential success of students when provided the appropriate support or intervention

Alien Registration- Smith, Mary L. (Presque Isle, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/33430/thumbnail.jp

Autonomous support for microorganism research in space

A preliminary design for performing on orbit, autonomous research on microorganisms and cultured cells/tissues is presented. An understanding of gravity and its effects on cells is crucial for space exploration as well as for terrestrial applications. The payload is designed to be compatible with the Commercial Experiment Transporter (COMET) launch vehicle, an orbiter middeck locker interface, and with Space Station Freedom. Uplink/downlink capabilities and sample return through controlled reentry are available for all carriers. Autonomous testing activities are preprogrammed with in-flight reprogrammability. Sensors for monitoring temperature, pH, light, gravity levels, vibrations, and radiation are provided for environmental regulation and experimental data collection. Additional experimental data acquisition includes optical density measurement, microscopy, video, and film photography. On-board full data storage capabilities are provided. A fluid transfer mechanism is utilized for inoculation, sampling, and nutrient replenishment of experiment cultures. In addition to payload design, representative experiments were developed to ensure scientific objectives remained compatible with hardware capabilities. The project is defined to provide biological data pertinent to extended duration crewed space flight including crew health issues and development of a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS). In addition, opportunities are opened for investigations leading to commercial applications of space, such as pharmaceutical development, modeling of terrestrial diseases, and material processing

Is College Liberating For All Students? The Impact of Sensory Challenges on Participation of Students on the Autism Spectrum and With Other Neurodivergent Diagnoses

Neurodiversity describes unique ways in which an individual\u27s brain works, impacting skills such as executive function, social interaction, communication, and sensory processing. Sensory processing describes the system which receives, processes, organizes, and responds to sensory information received in several environments throughout the day. Sensory sensitivity involves both over- and under-responsiveness to sensory information received, both causing an impact on one’s participation. An occupational area that seems to lack support for sensory challenges is that of postsecondary, or college, settings. Several policies exist to protect the right to equal education for students with disabilities, however, these protections only last until students have graduated high school or turned 21 years old. For those neurodivergent students planning to go on to college, there is a great lack of support for the unique sensory challenges they prepare to face. Sensory challenges interfere with the participation and performance of neurodivergent college students, not only in their academic efforts, but in other areas of occupation such as social interaction, sports, and leisure activity. It is currently unknown how to support the sensory challenges of neurodivergent college students.https://soar.usa.edu/otdcapstonesspring2023/1039/thumbnail.jp

Synoptic/planetary-scale interactions and blocking over the North Atlantic Ocean

One segment of work in the past year focused on the diagnosis of a major blocking anticyclone and its interacting synoptic scale circulations that occurred during January 1979 over the North Atlantic Ocean. Another segment focused on the diagnosis of a second explosive cyclone development that occurred over the southeastern United States during the time of block formation. The diagnoses were accomplished using the diagnostic relationship known as the Zwack-Okossi (Z-O) development equation. Results indicate that in both cyclone cases the development occurred as a result of the favorable influence of positive vorticity advection, warm air advection, and latent heat release and ceased when one or more of these influences diminished. The advantages of the Z-O equation are described

DIRECT ESTIMATION OF ABOVEGROUND FOREST PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH HYPERSPECTRAL REMOTE SENSING OF CANOPY NITROGEN

The concentration of nitrogen in foliage has been related to rates of net photosynthesis across a wide range of plant species and functional groups and thus represents a simple and biologically meaningful link between terrestrial cycles of carbon and nitrogen. Although foliar N is used by ecosystem models to predict rates of leaf‐level photosynthesis, it has rarely been examined as a direct scalar to stand‐level carbon gain. Establishment of such relationships would greatly simplify the nature of forest C and N linkages, enhancing our ability to derive estimates of forest productivity at landscape to regional scales. Here, we report on a highly predictive relationship between whole‐canopy nitrogen concentration and aboveground forest productivity in diverse forested stands of varying age and species composition across the 360 000‐ha White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire, USA. We also demonstrate that hyperspectral remote sensing can be used to estimate foliar N concentration, and hence forest production across a large number of contiguous images. Together these data suggest that canopy‐level N concentration is an important correlate of productivity in these forested systems, and that imaging spectrometry of canopy N can provide direct estimates of forest productivity across large landscapes

Synoptic/planetary-scale interactions and blocking over the North Atlantic Ocean

Work was completed on the height tendency diagnoses of two extratropical cyclones that occurred upstream from the blocking event studied previously. One developed explosively over water 60 to 36 hours before the block first appeared, while the second developed explosively over the southeastern United States during the time of block formation. In both cases, both vorticity and temperature advection were consistently important forcing mechanisms. This is in contrast to the block itself, in which vorticity advection was easily the dominant forcing mechanism. Latent heat release was also significant, accounting for about 50 percent of the total height falls in the cyclone below 850 mb. Estimates of latent heat release were greatly enhanced by coupling parameterized estimates with values derived from GOES IR data using an algorithm developed by Marshall's F. R. Robertson. Among the difficulties encountered in this work was the identification of an appropriate lower boundary condition for the solution of the height tendency equation. The zero value currently used tends to yield underestimates of the lower troposphere height tendencies. To address this problem a new diagnostic technique was developed in cooperation with Dr. Peter Zwack of the University of Quebec at Montreal. Based on an equation Dr. Zwack had previously developed (the Zwack-Okossi development equation), researchers now have a relationship that is completely consistent with the height tendency equation and provides estimates of lower boundary geostrophic vorticity or height tendencies. Finally, comparison of the SAT (satellite data) and NOSAT (no satellite data) analyses is progressing well. The present focus is on both the new diagnostic technique and the SAT/NOSAT comparisons. The former is being tested on the southeastern United States cyclone case previously mentioned and compared with the height tendency diagnoses already completed. The latter are being examined for the blocking case described in the publications cited in this summary. In addition to obtaining statistics that will allow general comparison of the two analyses, it will be possible to determine whether conclusions about the dynamics of the block development are influenced by the analysis set used

Finding qualitative research: an evaluation of search strategies

BACKGROUND: Qualitative research makes an important contribution to our understanding of health and healthcare. However, qualitative evidence can be difficult to search for and identify, and the effectiveness of different types of search strategies is unknown. METHODS: Three search strategies for qualitative research in the example area of support for breast-feeding were evaluated using six electronic bibliographic databases. The strategies were based on using thesaurus terms, free-text terms and broad-based terms. These strategies were combined with recognised search terms for support for breast-feeding previously used in a Cochrane review. For each strategy, we evaluated the recall (potentially relevant records found) and precision (actually relevant records found). RESULTS: A total yield of 7420 potentially relevant records was retrieved by the three strategies combined. Of these, 262 were judged relevant. Using one strategy alone would miss relevant records. The broad-based strategy had the highest recall and the thesaurus strategy the highest precision. Precision was generally poor: 96% of records initially identified as potentially relevant were deemed irrelevant. Searching for qualitative research involves trade-offs between recall and precision. CONCLUSIONS: These findings confirm that strategies that attempt to maximise the number of potentially relevant records found are likely to result in a large number of false positives. The findings also suggest that a range of search terms is required to optimise searching for qualitative evidence. This underlines the problems of current methods for indexing qualitative research in bibliographic databases and indicates where improvements need to be made