An Analysis Of Two-Year College Fundraising Practices

Abstract: this study sought to discover information about the types of fundraising methods being used in community college resource development, determine what methods are most effective for successful development practices, and inform community college development officers of these methods. Specifically, this study addressed the following question: are there statistically significant relationships between two-year college size, fundraising method(s), and the amount of funds raised? Descriptive statistics were obtained, and two-way chi-square analysis was used to illustrate the comparisons between the categorical variables in all hypotheses. Only one hypothesis was rejected based on a computed chi-square (χ2 = 22.507), which exceeded the critical value (χ2cv = 5.991). This result indicated the possibility of a significant relationship between fundraising success and the size of a two-year institution\u27s student headcount. The results of this study aligned with existing research with similar characteristics. The study by Rieves (2005), an analysis of public two-year college fundraising, which indicated 20% of fundraising efforts can be attributed to the size of the institution, and recommended that foundation officers rethink strategies of engagement to increase student headcount. As well, Gilmore\u27s (1996) study, an analysis of fundraising activities for the solicitation of private donations at selected public community colleges, which identified significant fundraising activities, also found fundraising revenue was positively correlated with the size of the institution\u27s student body

Using an Experiential Group to Promote Engagement in a Career Counseling Course

Abstract Career development and graduate counseling courses provide an opportunity to engage counselors-in-training in their own career development in order to evoke a parallel experience in their future clients. One approach to engaging students in these courses is through experiential education. The authors describe a pilot project using an experiential group technique embedded in a graduate-level career development and counseling course. The first author implemented a six-session group experience using peer facilitators to explore students’ own career-related attitudes and behaviors and then transfer that experience to work with future clients. The inclusion of an experiential group in a career development and counseling course can help students make important connections across counseling curriculum and demonstrate the close ties between career and mental health concerns

A Review of Missing Data Handling Techniques for Machine Learning

Real-world data are commonly known to contain missing values, and consequently affect the performance of most machine learning algorithms adversely when employed on such datasets. Precisely, missing values are among the various challenges occurring in real-world data. Since the accuracy and efficiency of machine learning models depend on the quality of the data used, there is a need for data analysts and researchers working with data, to seek out some relevant techniques that can be used to handle these inescapable missing values. This paper reviews some state-of-art practices obtained in the literature for handling missing data problems for machine learning. It lists some evaluation metrics used in measuring the performance of these techniques. This study tries to put these techniques and evaluation metrics in clear terms, followed by some mathematical equations. Furthermore, some recommendations to consider when dealing with missing data handling techniques were provided

Model and solutions to campus parking space allocation problem.

M. Sc. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.Parking is considered a major land use challenge in campus planning. The problem can be in terms of scarcity (few available spaces compared to demand) or management (ineffi cient usage of available facilities). Many studies have looked at the parking problem from the administrative and management points of view. However, it is believed that mathematical models and optimiza- tion can provide substantial solution to the parking problem. This study investigates a model for allocating car parking spaces in the university environment and improves on the constraints to address the reserved parking policy on campus. An investigation of both the exact and heuristic techniques was undergone to provide solutions to this model with a case study of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Westville Campus. The optimization model was tested with four different set of data that were generated to mimic real life situations of parking supply and demand on campus for reserved and unreserved parking spaces. These datasets consist of the number of parking lots and offi ce buildings in the case study. The study also investigate some optimization algorithms that can be used to obtain solutions to this problem. An exact solution of the model was generated with CPLEX solver (as incorporated in AIMMS software). Further investigation of the performance of the three meta-heuristics to solve this problem was done. A comparative study of the performance of these techniques was conducted. Results obtained from the meta-heuristic algorithms indicate that the algorithms used can successfully solve the parking allocation problem and can give solutions that are near optimal. The parking allocation and fitness value for each of the meta-heuristic algorithms on the sets of data used were obtained and compared to each other and also to the ones obtained from CPLEX solver. The results suggest that PSwarm performs better and faster than the other two algorithms and gives solutions that are close to the exact solutions obtained from CPLEX solver

Lightweight Composite Trailer Design

This thesis explores the use of lightweight composite materials in road freight trailer design as a means of reducing the emissions of the road freight industry. A comprehensive review of previous lightweight composite trailers and related projects was conducted; it concluded that the application of composites in trailers to-date has largely been limited by relatively high material and production costs. The review highlighted that the trailer industry could learn from the success of composites in the bridge construction industry. A statistical weight analysis of two road freight fleets and an energy consumption estimation, via a drive cycle analysis, were used to identify trailers that are particularly suited to lightweighting. Hardwood trailer decking was identified as a prime subcomponent for composite replacement. However, there is little literature on how conventional hardwood trailer decks react to in-service loadings. This problem was addressed through a comprehensive deck damage study, which was used to benchmark novel lightweight deck systems. Several lightweight replacement composite sandwich panels were designed, built and tested. Two different pultruded GFRP decks were also examined. While pultrusions do not offer the same level of weight savings as sandwich panels, the highly cost-driven nature of the trailer industry could dictate that their integration is the most reasonable first step to introducing composites into structural subcomponents. The final part of the thesis explores options for lightweighting the trailer chassis holistically. Trailer load cases were investigated through finite element modelling in Abaqus. A parametric model of a typical longitudinal trailer I-beam was developed using Python scripting and Abaqus. The model was expanded to analyse composite trailer structures. It showed that approximately 1,300 kg of weight could be saved by shape and material optimisation in a composite trailer. In summary, this research has shown that short-term trailer weight reductions can be effectively achieved through subcomponent replacement, while more significant reductions can be achieved in the long-term by a ‘clean slate’ composite redesign of the trailer chassis. The lightweighting strategies presented here are poised to have an increasingly important role in reducing the emissions of the road freight industry.The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the members of the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight and from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant Reference EP/K00915X/1)

Pro+: Automated protrusion and critical shear stress estimates from 3D point clouds of gravel beds

The dimensionless critical shear stress (τ*c) needed for the onset of sediment motion is important for a range of studies from river restoration projects to landscape evolution calculations. Many studies simply assume a τ*c value within the large range of scatter observed in gravel-bedded rivers because direct field estimates are difficult to obtain. Informed choices of reach-scale τ*c values could instead be obtained from force balance calculations that include particle-scale bed structure and flow conditions. Particle-scale bed structure is also difficult to measure, precluding wide adoption of such force-balance τ*c values. Recent studies have demonstrated that bed grain size distributions (GSD) can be determined from detailed point clouds (e.g. using G3Point open-source software). We build on these point cloud methods to introduce Pro+, software that estimates particle-scale protrusion distributions and τ*c for each grain size and for the entire bed using a force-balance model. We validated G3Point and Pro+ using two laboratory flume experiments with different grain size distributions and bed topographies. Commonly used definitions of protrusion may not produce representative τ*c distributions, and Pro+ includes new protrusion definitions to better include flow and bed structure influences on particle mobility. The combined G3Point/Pro+ provided accurate grain size, protrusion and τ*c distributions with simple GSD calibration. The largest source of error in protrusion and τ*c distributions were from incorrect grain boundaries and grain locations in G3Point, and calibration of grain software beyond comparing GSD is likely needed. Pro+ can be coupled with grain identifying software and relatively easily obtainable data to provide informed estimates of τ*c. These could replace arbitrary choices of τ*c and potentially improve channel stability and sediment transport estimates