Beecoming Modern

As an architecture student I am constantly looking at nature for design inspirations, and my search often leads me to the structure and design of bees. These tiny creatures are some of the best builder, but their habitat is being destroyed day after day by human development. To combat this, “bee blocks” are often used to provide shelter for the bees, so that they can hibernate and remain undisturbed. However, these blocks lack the ingenuity and complex design ability that bees used to place in their structures. So, in order to regain what they lost, I decided to reimagine the traditional bee block. ! Accomplish this goal involved researching the previous man-made and bee-made structures was crucial, along with finding out key elements required to build this structure so that it is safe for bees. After doing this research, I then worked on redesigning it in a way that drew inspiration from original bee structures, without losing its actual functionality. This ended with a sculpture like design, that is fully functional, and relatively easy to build; making it a structure both worthy of the bee’s presence, easy for the average individual to build, and perfect in helping preserve future bee populations

Hump Yard Track Allocation with Temporary Car Storage

In rail freight operation, freight cars need to be separated and reformed into new trains at hump yards. The classification procedure is complex and hump yards constitute bottlenecks in the rail freight network, often causing outbound trains to be delayed. One of the problems is that planning for the allocation of tracks at hump yards is difficult, given that the planner has limited resources (tracks, shunting engines, etc.) and needs to foresee the future capacity requirements when planning for the current inbound trains. In this paper, we consider the problem of allocating classification tracks in a rail freight hump yard for arriving and departing trains with predetermined arrival and departure times. The core problem can be formulated as a special list coloring problem. We focus on an extension where individual cars can temporarily be stored on a special subset of the tracks. An extension where individual cars can temporarily be stored on a special subset of the tracks is also considered. We model the problem using mixed integer programming, and also propose several heuristics that can quickly give feasible track allocations. As a case study, we consider a real-world problem instance from the Hallsberg Rangerbangård hump yard in Sweden. Planning over horizons over two to four days, we obtain feasible solutions from both the exact and heuristic approaches that allow all outgoing trains to leave on time

Track Allocation in Freight-Train Classification with Mixed Tracks

We consider the process of forming outbound trains from cars of inbound trains at rail-freight hump yards. Given the arrival and departure times as well as the composition of the trains, we study the problem of allocating classification tracks to outbound trains such that every outbound train can be built on a separate classification track. We observe that the core problem can be formulated as a special list coloring problem in interval graphs, which is known to be NP-complete. We focus on an extension where individual cars of different trains can temporarily be stored on a special subset of the tracks. This problem induces several new variants of the list-coloring problem, in which the given intervals can be shortened by cutting off a prefix of the interval. We show that in case of uniform and sufficient track lengths, the corresponding coloring problem can be solved in polynomial time, if the goal is to minimize the total cost associated with cutting off prefixes of the intervals. Based on these results, we devise two heuristics as well as an integer program to tackle the problem. As a case study, we consider a real-world problem instance from the Hallsberg Rangerbangård hump yard in Sweden. Planning over horizons of seven days, we obtain feasible solutions from the integer program in all scenarios, and from the heuristics in most scenarios

Farewell Comrade

The man in the coffin, the body in the coffin, was not he. For one thing, he needed a cigar. Those thin, colorless lips clamped tightly together would have told me he was dead even if all the other clues had been absent. His lips were what I remembered about my husband\u27s Uncle Harold. In life they were thick and red and always cradling a wet stub of unlit cigar. I had nearly always gagged to look at it, a fat brown stump, slobbered all over at one end. But the way he held it absently in the drawn-up corner of his mouth might have also contributed to the other thing I remembered about him, the hint of a smile that made him always look slightly bemused

Evaluating the Assessment Instrument a Multidisciplinary Approach to Improving a Writing Rubric

In 2008, a group of English/Humanities faculty created a writing rubric to help instructors across the curriculum assess student writing and provide specific feedback for improvement. Five months after the rubric was released, a survey revealed that nearly 70% of instructors were not using it. Respondents cited two major reasons: They had not received it or they considered it inapplicable to their courses. They frequently suggested that the rubric be simplified. Project participants took a multidisciplinary approach to answering these objections, which resulted in 14 suggestions. The idea that generated the greatest excitement was an electronic rubric with links to hidden layers of additional information. Training and greater ease of access emerged as keys to increasing usage

The Conflict of Desire

As humans, we live in a state of dynamic, conflicting emotions. In moments of pain we experience joy and in moments of joy we have sorrow. In the work that culminates in my thesis show Lovely…, I visually celebrate the contradictions and dynamism of the joy and sadness of life. Just like the word “lovely,” which we may use to describe everything from a wedding ceremony to a funeral service, life is an indefinable experience. It fluctuates, never remaining in one moment or emotion for long. This dynamism creates the complexity of life, the beauty of life, and the path of life. As Joanna Freuh says, “life is sloppy” and, as an artist, I want to celebrate, question, and reveal the sloppiness of our lives. I use my daily life as the main subject of my work to make it honest and accessible. The idea of the work being honest, even painfully so, comes from my desire to be true to my emotions, insecurities, strengths, and intelligence without fear of ridicule or censure from a patriarchal society. By making work that resides within the realm of the everyday, I am attempting to defy and contest masculine censure. In effect, I reclaim my femininity: the quality of being feminine, without the fear of losing strength or respect. Though the autobiographical drives the work and is necessary for it to exist, ultimately it is transcended, enabling the viewer to have his or her own independent relationship to it

Using Learning Outcomes for Continuous Improvement: A Case Study of ENGL 123

Online courses for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University must be delivered as built, including all instructional activities, assessments and assignments. As the researcher developed ENGL 123 English Composition for online delivery, she became concerned that the course was tailored too much to her style. To test this, she created a survey that was administered to 12 instructors immediately after they finished teaching the course. They were asked to rank the effectiveness of each activity and assignment in teaching a specified learning outcome. The results were positive, although the number was too small to perform statistical analysis. Although the researcher made changes based on the feedback, she concluded that the course as designed overall could be taught successfully by any online instructor

Embedding Inquiry-Based Learning Activities to Create a Research-Supportive Culture

Research, in its most elemental form, is the process of asking a question and searching systematically for an answer. Thus, it is inquiry-based. Embedding inquiry-based activities throughout the curriculum facilitates the creation of a research-supportive culture, the stated purpose of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Quality Enhancement Program. Inquirybased activities range from confirmation of known principles following an instructor-specified procedure, to independent formulation of questions and investigative procedures by the students themselves. They follow inductive methods and constructivist principles. Instructor preparation requires careful planning, with attention to learning objectives, resources required, and student resistance factors. Instructors must possess deep content knowledge and a variety of pedagogical strategies. Often the greatest challenges are embracing cognitive dissonance and handling unexpected or nonexistent student responses

The Effects of Augmentative & Alternative Communication on Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-Analysis

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) on children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examined the question: “What is the role of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices in aiding individuals across the autism spectrum and what perspectives do parents of children across the autism spectrum have with regard to this technology?” This study involved interviewing a parent of an autistic child to glean her perspectives on AAC. The findings from this interview guided the meta-analysis research. Three main categories arose: benefits of AAC, disadvantages of AAC and parent perspectives. Three speech-language pathology journals were searched using the terms AAC, autism, and children for the first search with the addition of parent perspectives for the second. The inclusion criteria for studies were as follows: January 2000-August 2021, report on the findings of an experiment in which autistic children 18 and younger used AAC; and/or include parent’s perspectives of their children’s (18≤) AAC use. Benefits include increased speech/vocalizations, developing more advanced communication i.e., responding to greetings and questions, use of expressive and receptive language and requesting. Disadvantages include difficulty generalizing to new settings, learning symbols and integrating AAC. Parents were too focused on becoming operationally competent, some saw benefits, others noted difficulties and another wanted more AAC modeling for her son. AAC has benefits and disadvantages, but should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis as every child has different needs. Keywords: Autism, children, AAC, parent perspective