The Mainstream Misrepresentation of Muslim Women in the Media

I discuss the widespread misrepresentation of Islamic women in multiple sources of media and its subsequent effects on the general population\u27s perception of this demographic as a whole

Valuing iconic design: Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in Oak Park, Illinois

This study investigates the willingness of homebuyers to pay for co-location with iconic architecture. Oak Park, Illinois was chosen as the study area given its unique claim of having 24 residential structures designed by world-famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, in addition to dozens of other designated landmarks and three preservation districts. This study adds to the limited body of existing literature on the external price effects of architectural design and is unique in its focus on residential architecture. We find a premium of about 8.5% within 50-100m of the nearest Wright building and about 5% within 50-250m. These results indicate that an external premium to iconic architecture does exist, although it may partially be attributable to the prominence of the architec

Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning: Evaluation of the Use of Scientific Inquiry to Support Argumentative Writing in the Middle School Science Classroom

In light of the essential science and engineering practices identified by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), this study focuses on the specific science and engineering practice, engage in argument from evidence, and how classroom practices can serve to strengthen this skill (National Research Council, 2012, p. 71). The NGSS focus on inquiry necessitates students’ use of argument, particularly in writing, to communicate their knowledge and scientific findings and to develop an understanding of scientific practice. The purpose of this teacher action research study is to evaluate the influence of inquiry-based argumentative writing exercises, based on the Argument Driven Inquiry (ADI) model, in a middle school science classroom (Sampson, Grooms, and Walker, 2011). The ADI model, while extensive and complex, shows promise in building both argumentative writing skills and science content knowledge, and this study aimed to modify this model for frequent classroom use at the middle school level. Information gained from this study will benefit science educators by yielding information about how scientific argumentative writing can be most effectively implemented into the middle school classroom to yield the maximum benefit for literacy in the science curriculum. Keywords: science, middle school, science and engineering practices, argumentative writing, Next Generation Science Standard

Innovative Techniques for the Retrieval of Earth’s Surface and Atmosphere Geophysical Parameters: Spaceborne Infrared/Microwave Combined Analyses

With the advent of the first satellites for Earth Observation: Landsat-1 in July 1972 and ERS-1 in May 1991, the discipline of environmental remote sensing has become, over time, increasingly fundamental for the study of phenomena characterizing the planet Earth. The goal of environmental remote sensing is to perform detailed analyses and to monitor the temporal evolution of different physical phenomena, exploiting the mechanisms of interaction between the objects that are present in an observed scene and the electromagnetic radiation detected by sensors, placed at a distance from the scene, operating at different frequencies. The analyzed physical phenomena are those related to climate change, weather forecasts, global ocean circulation, greenhouse gas profiling, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, soil subsidence, and the effects of rapid urbanization processes. Generally, remote sensing sensors are of two primary types: active and passive. Active sensors use their own source of electromagnetic radiation to illuminate and analyze an area of interest. An active sensor emits radiation in the direction of the area to be investigated and then detects and measures the radiation that is backscattered from the objects contained in that area. Passive sensors, on the other hand, detect natural electromagnetic radiation (e.g., from the Sun in the visible band and the Earth in the infrared and microwave bands) emitted or reflected by the object contained in the observed scene. The scientific community has dedicated many resources to developing techniques to estimate, study and analyze Earth’s geophysical parameters. These techniques differ for active and passive sensors because they depend strictly on the type of the measured physical quantity. In my P.h.D. work, inversion techniques for estimating Earth’s surface and atmosphere geophysical parameters will be addressed, emphasizing methods based on machine learning (ML). In particular, the study of cloud microphysics and the characterization of Earth’s surface changes phenomenon are the critical points of this work

Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning: Evaluation of the Use of Scientific Inquiry to Support Argumentative Writing in the Middle School Science Classroom

In light of the essential science and engineering practices identified by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), this study focuses on the specific science and engineering practice, engage in argument from evidence, and how classroom practices can serve to strengthen this skill (National Research Council, 2012, p. 71). The NGSS focus on inquiry necessitates students’ use of argument, particularly in writing, to communicate their knowledge and scientific findings and to develop an understanding of scientific practice. The purpose of this teacher action research study is to evaluate the influence of inquiry-based argumentative writing exercises, based on the Argument Driven Inquiry (ADI) model, in a middle school science classroom (Sampson, Grooms, and Walker, 2011). The ADI model, while extensive and complex, shows promise in building both argumentative writing skills and science content knowledge. The results of this study demonstrated that modified iterations of this model should include data sets that are personally meaningful to students, writing tasks scaffolded to areas of student need, and clear communication of feedback, from both peers and teachers, focused on all three areas of scientific arguments: claim, evidence, and reasoning. Information gained from this study will benefit science educators by yielding information about how scientific argumentative writing can be most effectively implemented into the middle school classroom to yield the maximum benefit for literacy in the science curriculum

Teaching Elementary School Children About Nutritionn

Elementary school curriculum often lacks focus on nutrition education. Without nutrition education, children may develop poor eating habits, poor physical health, and lower quality of life. In order to address this issue, I have developed a three-day lesson for four 1st and four 2nd graders at Sheldon Acres Child Development Center in Elk Grove, California