A comparison of the enrollment, persistence and transfer rates of white and minority students at Des Moines Area Community College

The role of the community college has been to unlock the doors of education opportunity for all individuals, and provide the entry point to higher education. Community colleges are the primary gateway to education for many of our minority and first generation students. Reflecting national trends, enrollment of minority students in Iowa\u27s community colleges is increasing. The available transfer data demonstrate the low participation and transfer rates of minority students in community colleges and in higher education, in general, in Iowa. A detailed analysis of the number of minority students enrolling, and persisting in community colleges and transferring to four-year institutions is warranted.;The purpose of this study was to determine if minority students enrolled at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) as probable transfer students transferred to Iowa State University at the same rate as White students, and if there were any differences in the enrollment, within-term course retention, fall-to-spring persistence, and after transfer success rates of male students and female students in each of the minority groups at DMACC. The Chi-square test was used to compare expected frequencies calculated from DMACC\u27s White student population with actual frequencies for DMACC\u27s minority population.;Among the findings were: (a) with the exception of Hispanic students, most minority students enrolled in larger numbers than they exist in the population of the area; (b) Black and Asian students dropped courses at an alarmingly high rate during their first semester; (c) once minority students persisted past the first term of enrollment, the differences in persistence between minority and White students were minimal; (d) the transfer rate of Asian females was nearly double that of Black students; (e) and Black males transferred at very low rates and succeeded at significantly lower rates than their White peers.;The study should be replicated on a statewide basis, including all community colleges as well as the three Regents\u27 universities. A qualitative study should include perceptions of adjustment to college, preparedness for college, use of college support services, importance of higher education to the student and family, and other factors that affect the quality of a student\u27s college experience

Preliminary measurement scales for sparkle and graininess

Large effect pigments, widely used in various fields of industrial applications, produce characteristic visual textures known as sparkle and graininess, which need to be quantified by objective or subjective methods. The development of preliminary measurement scales for sparkle and graininess, whose recommendation is now under discussion in the International Commission on Illumination (CIE), is described in this article. These scales are absolute, linear and traceable to standards of optical radiation metrology. The main purpose of this article is to justify the convenience of adopting these preliminary measurements scales, showing clear evidence that they correlate well with subjective evaluations. Before standardization, these scales need to be validated with more experimental data, including different specimens and experimental systems from other research groups.This article was written within the EMPIR 16NRM08 Project “Bidirectional reflectance definitions” (BiRD). The EMPIR is jointly funded by the EMPIR participating countries within EURAMET and the European Union. Part of the authors (E. Perales and F.M. Martínez-Verdú) are also grateful to Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades for project RTI2018-096000-B-I00

Life History Response of Mediterranean Fruit Flies to Dietary Restriction

The purpose of this study was to investigate medfly longevity and reproduction across a broad spectrum of diet restriction using a protocol similar to those applied in most rodent studies. Age-specific reproduction and age of death were monitored for 1,200 adult males and 1,200 females, each individually maintained on one of 12 diets from ad libitum to 30% of ad libitum. Diet was provided in a fixed volume of solution that was fully consumed each day, ensuring control of total nutrient consumption for every fly. Contrary to expectation and precedence, increased longevity was not observed at any level of diet restriction. Among females, reproduction continued across all diet levels despite the cost in terms of increased mortality. Among males, life expectancy exceeded that of females at most diet levels. However, in both sexes, mortality increased more sharply and the pattern of survival changed abruptly once the diet level fell to 50% of ad libitum or below, even though the energetic demands of egg production has no obvious counterpart in males. We believe that a more complete picture of the life table response to dietary restriction will emerge when studies are conducted on a wider range of species and include both sexes, more levels of diet, and the opportunity for mating and reproduction

FEDERAL WILDLIFE IMPORTATION REGULATIONS: THE WHY AND WHEREFORE

This is a hasty and in many ways superficial review of the motivations that started us in the business of importing new, strange, beautiful, and hopefully useful wildlife. It is a capsuled account of the high cost of ill-advised introductions and of near misses that were avoided thanks to a few individuals who viewed such transplants with skepticism and even alarm. And I have touched also on the highlights of the legislative base from which we now operate in efforts to safeguard agriculture and other values from ravages of exotic wildlife; wildlife that may succeed too well with us and behave not at all as they do at home. But our best efforts still leave room for caution and concern. With the arrival of the age of jet air travel we have traded one problem for another. In the closing years of the last century our vulnerability centered on a lack of legal authority to control imports. And yet a built-in safeguard may have partly concerned the deliberate travel of ocean liners and the complexities involved in transporting live animals by that means. Today we are less than a day removed from any part of the globe, and the ease and success of moving wildlife by air has greatly increased traffic in many new, unusual and even poorly understood species. The cage bird business has grown explosively. Not the least of our problems now center on inadequate staff to inspect the flood of shipments. And inspections can be involved because working with the bird life of the world (and its fish life, too) can be a job for highly accomplished taxonomists of which there are none too many. Even in the most practiced hands there are problems of identification to flabbergast the experts

Haben alte Industrieobjekte eine positive Zukunft mit alternativer Nutzung? : Umnutzung eines gewerblichen Objektes und die Errichtung von Office Lösungen durch modulare Niedrigenergie Apartments versus Großraumlösung mit Wohnmöglichkeit

Umnutzungen von älteren Industrieobjekten für neue Funktionen sind meistens erst möglich, wenn das Objekt durch Besitzerwechsel oder Firmenschließungen obsolet oder leerstehendgeworden ist. Da laut Marktstudien gebrauchte z.T. stark revitalisierungsbedürftige Industrieobjekte nur geringe Preissteigerungen und mäßige Nachfrage zeigen, wäre eine Erneuerung und Immobilienentwicklungen eine erfolgreiche Strategie. Das zeigt diese Studie eindeutig auf. Diese Arbeit hat sich das Ziel gesetzt erfolgreiche Rahmenbedingungen für die Umnutzung solcher Objekte darzustellen, zu vergleichen und gleichzeitig in Frage zu stellen. Anhand meiner eigenen alten Betriebsliegenschaft wurden drei Umnutzungsmöglichkeiten erarbeitet und dargestellt. Wohnen, Arbeiten und Freizeitgestaltung in einem Industrieobjekt Baujahr 1982 - Ist das alles sinnvoll möglich? Finanzierenden Banken sind nicht in der Lage diese Umnutzungsprozesse selbst zu gestalten und vergeben solche Objekte an Industriemakler, die nicht kompetente Umnutzungsentwicklung beherrschen, und nur versuchen einen Projektentwickler als Käufer zu finden. Alte heruntergekommene Objekte lassen sich daher nur schwer und sehr langsam vermarkten. Die Lage Industriegebiet Inzerdorf ist geprägt von vielen kleinen Objekten, die nur durch Aufstocken bzw. Zubauten Umnutzungspotential ermöglichen. Als erste These wurde eine Aufstockung mit Containerlösung für studentischer Wohnen oder KMU Büroflächen untersucht. Die zweite These ist eine Aufstockung, mit Open Workspace, begrünter Dachterrasse für Wohnen, Arbeiten und Freizeit. Die dritte These ist ähnlich, jedoch mit kleinen Nutzflächen für mehrere Mieter. Durch Markbeobachtungen und Recherchen wurden artgleiche Objekte nach Preis-Leistungsverhältnis verglichen, und auf Gemeinsamkeiten überprüft. Große Büroflächen über 250m² und mehr, können nur einem sehr selektiven Nutzerkreis angeboten werden, sind aber mit Dachterrassengestaltung und moderner Infrastruktur zu guten Preisen leichter positionierbar. Daher wurde einer Wohnbürogroßraumlösung der Vorzug gegeben. KMU Kleinbüros in energieautarken Container bzw. Studentenwohnungen haben eine starke Marktnachfrage, sind jedoch verwaltungstechnisch aufwendig und fluktuationsanfällig. Auf Grund der Gesamtproblematik wird für einen Dachausbau für diese Lösung abgeraten und die Risiken beschrieben. Der Adressat dieser Arbeit ist in vielen Fällen der Inhaber und seine Familie und weniger der Industriemakler. Es ist damit auch der Nachweis geführt, das unter Einbindung alternativer Energiegewinnung durch PV Anlagen, sowie durch alternative ökologische Bauweisen auch ein attraktiver und nachhaltiger Lebensraum geschaffen werden kann. Ökologische Vernetzung und ein Aufrechterhalten funktioneller Freizeitwerte im urbanen Raum kann auch in einer Umnutzung von alten Industrieobjekten funktionieren. Diese Arbeit soll aufzeigen und ermuntern, dass es sehr wohl möglich ist ein bestehendes Objekt durch Umnutzung erfolgreich dem Markt anzubieten, und im Gesamtwert und Ertrag zu steigern.12