Past, Present, and Future: Narrative Reflections of a Novice Researcher

In this article, I use an autoethnographical approach to explore how I identified my research interests of student voice, action research, and students as scientific researchers. My purpose was to identify some of the influences on my academic life. To achieve this goal, I used my writing as a method of both data collection and analysis combined with my parents’ interpretations of events to create narratives of my lived experiences. This process allowed me to make sense of how my lived experiences shaped my decision to become a doctoral student and the choices I have made as a novice researcher

Embracing a Culture of STEM Education: A Qualitative Research Study

The purpose of this study was to explore teacher and administrator perspectives on STEM education and how they demonstrate characteristics of STEM education. The five schools in this study are part of a greater network of elementary, middle, and high schools that collaborate and learn together. Data were collected through interviews with teachers and administrators and observational notes from meetings and other events. Interviews were recorded and transcribed and then coded to look for themes in the data. Findings indicate teachers and administrators view a supportive leadership, teacher buy in, and comfort in teaching STEM as essential to the implementation of STEM initiatives. Without these necessary components, inequities may arise and lead to less opportunities for students. Overcoming obstacles may require a change in mindset to embrace a culture of STEM teaching and learning. Understanding how teachers and administrators view the importance of STEM and benefits of participating in a community of STEM can help understand how to shift the culture of a school to one more inclusive of STEM education

A Book Review Journey through Doing Ethnography

Giampietro Gobo and Andrea Molle describe their book, Doing Ethnography, as a recipe for cooking ethnography. In this book review, I will take you on a journey through this culinary delight. I provide an overview of the points of interest, a short description of what can be found at each location, and the benefits of the various stops on the tours. Overall, this book is an appropriate choice for novice researchers or anyone who is interested in the practice of ethnography

Does Size Matter? Economies Of Scale In The Banking Industry

This study uses 2007 data from more than 1,200 banking institutions to examine the relationships among size, costs, and profitability in the banking industry.  Our results suggest that the relationship between size and firm performance is complex.  We find that while costs decline and profitability increases as bank size increases, these relationships do not hold indefinitely and diseconomies of scale are experienced by larger banks.  When size is measured by total assets, larger banks begin to encounter lower levels of net income, but the very largest banks are able to enjoy net income that increases at an increasing rate as size increases.  When size is measured by total deposits, net income increases at an increasing rate for a wide range of bank sizes and only begins to decrease for the largest banks.  Regardless of the size measure employed, we find that increasing size is associated with higher costs that increase at an increasing rate, inevitably resulting in diseconomies of scale with implications for both theory and practice

Convergence rates of the Allen-Cahn equation to mean curvature flow: A short proof based on relative entropies

We give a short and self-contained proof for rates of convergence of the Allen--Cahn equation towards mean curvature flow, assuming that a classical (smooth) solution to the latter exists and starting from well-prepared initial data. Our approach is based on a relative entropy technique. In particular, it does not require a stability analysis for the linearized Allen--Cahn operator. As our analysis also does not rely on the comparison principle, we expect it to be applicable to more complex equations and systems

SISTEMA DE INFORMAÇÃO DE MARKETING (SIM) COMO VANTAGEM COMPETITIVA DAS INSTITUIÇÕES DE ENSINO SUPERIOR (IES

Após a promulgação da Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional – LDB-9394/96, nós testemunhamos um aumento desorganizado de instituições de uma instrução mais elevada – HEI no país. A maioria delas cresceram à base da intuição dos empreendedores educacionais, numa visão umbilicalizada por demanda de cursos em nível superior. A experiência tem mostrado que dificilmente as IES utilizam-se da inteligência de marketing para orientar seu posicionamento mercadológico e alinhar sua cadeia de valores internos. Apresentamos aqui uma discussão dos Sistemas de Informação de Marketing - SIM aplicados a Instituições de Ensino Superior, dentro da perspectiva de seu valor como instrumento de competitividade institucional. Nosso objetivo é analisar criticamente a capacidade competitiva de IES que devem lançar mão do SIM como condição insubstituível para seu progresso. Para tanto analisamos a função e o papel do SIM e seu impacto nas instituições, como sistemas geradores de vantagens competitivas. Por fim, sugerimos algumas estruturas organizacionais alternativas como forma de garantir os benefícios e o crescimento competitivo das IES, quando estas utilizam os SIM como ferramenta de gerência

Vibrational Excitons in CH-Stretching Fundamental and Overtone Vibrational Circular Dichroism Spectra

A set of vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectra in the CH-stretching fundamental region for about twenty compounds belonging to the class of essential oils was empirically analyzed by the use of a sort of vibrational exciton mechanism, involving three centers. Through a general formula applicable to many coupled dipole oscillators, the rotational strengths of the previously identified vibrational excitons are evaluated. The results are then critically reviewed by the use of recent ab initio methodology, as applied to selected molecules of the original set. Further insight is gained by model calculations adding up the contribution of the coupling between electric dipole moments associated with normal mode behavior and that of the polarizability from polarizable groups. The former part is responsible for the excitonic behavior of the VCD spectra. For the same selected molecules we have also investigated whether some excitonic behavior is taking place in the second overtone region, and have concluded that this is not the case

Factors Influencing Motion Picture Success: Empirical Review And Update

This paper investigates the factors associated with the success of creative products and services, focusing specifically on motion pictures.  The study offers a comprehensive examination of the factors influencing motion picture box office success, including quality and other product attributes, as well as marketing expenditures and film distribution patterns.  Based on a thorough review of the literature, a model is developed and tested using a sample of 439 movies.  Results suggest that the following factors are positively associated with motion picture success: quality, whether a movie is a sequel, marketing expenditures, the number of opening screens, and a favorable release date.  Implications of these findings for both theory and management are suggested

Effects of Magnetic Field on Josephson Current in SNS System

The effect of a magnetic field on Josephson current has been studied for a superconductor/normal-metal/superconductor (SNS) system, where N is a two-dimensional electron gas in a confining potential. It is found that the dependence of Josephson currents on the magnetic field are sensitive to the width of the normal metal. If the normal metal is wide and contains many channels (subbands), the current on a weak magnetic field shows a dependence similar to a Fraunhofer-pattern in SIS system and, as the field gets strong, it shows another type of oscillatory dependence on the field resulting from the Aharonov-Bohm interference between the edge states. As the number of channels decreases (i.e. normal metal gets narrower), however, the dependence in the region of the weak field deviates from a clear Fraunhofer pattern and the amplitude of the oscillatory dependence in the region of the strong field is reduced.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure