#Generation Z: A Phenomenological Study Exploring the Experiences of Elementary Title I Teachers’ Use of Educational Technology in the 21st Century Classroom

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenology was to describe the experiences of teachers’ educational technology use in Title I elementary schools in Central Florida. The central research question in this study was: How do Title I elementary teachers in Central Florida describe their experiences utilizing educational technology in the classroom? The theoretical foundation for this study was grounded in Bandura’s social cognitive theory, more specifically, teacher self-efficacy, which is a significant component of social cognitive theory. The design of this study was a transcendental phenomenology, a qualitative model that is most appropriate since I sought to make meaning from the descriptions of teachers’ use of educational technology in the Title I classroom. The sample consisted of 15 teachers from Title I schools across Central Florida. I collected data using in-depth personal interviews, focus groups, and journal prompts. The data was analyzed through phenomenological reduction. Findings from this study revealed how the Title I teachers utilized technology in their elementary classrooms to prepare their students for college or careers. The research revealed the importance of technology training and administrative support for teachers to be able to integrate technology into their classroom curriculum effectively. Recommendations for future research include expanding the study to comprise more Title I schools and exploring the effects of remote learning for students should the need arise for distance learning. Keywords: Title I schools, educational technology, technology integration, transcendental phenomenology, pedagogy, self-efficac

O1 haplotype diversity of the invasive colonial tunicate Didemnum vexillum in Drakes Estero and Bodega Bay

The colonial ascidian Didemnum vexillum is an invasive species with detrimental economic and ecological impacts on ecosystems where it is newly introduced. Populations of this recent marine pest are rapidly expanding along the North American coasts and provide the opportunity to assess whether population proximity and shared environmental factors influence genetic relatedness. The population in Tomales Bay, CA is the most diverse measured to date on the Northeast Pacific coast with the population composed of six different haplotypes; other locations are composed of three or four haplotypes. The diversity in Tomales Bay suggests it be an anomaly or possibly a matter associated to areas of limited diversity. D. vexillum populations in isolated areas such as Drakes Estero and Bodega Bay, CA are of close geographic range to Tomales. Drakes’ population is associated with aquaculture structures of the past and Bodega with fishing and recreational boat traffic. This study involved the genetic examination of these populations by barcoding the mitochondrial locus COI to determine haplotype distributions of Drakes Estero and Bodega Bay. From the ten Bodega and five Drakes sequences, there are at least two haplotypes represented. However, the results are preliminary; phylogenetic analysis of all sequences in comparison to the known haplotypes of D. vexillum is necessary before concluding which haplotypes are present in the populations

Scanning laser techniques for characterisation of different surface breaking defect geometries

Measurements using a laser scanning system consisting of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser to generate surface ultrasonic waves and an interferometer to detect the surface displacement, are presented for different samples and defect geometries. We show, firstly, details of the interaction of Rayleigh waves in thick samples with machined slots inclined at an angle to the surface normal, or with simple branched geometries, scanning the generation source over the defect (SLLS) or scanning the detection point over the defect (SLD). Secondly, we discuss effects of Lamb waves interacting with V-shaped defects in thin samples. The results from these measurements have shown that the signal enhancement found in the near-field in both cases can be used to position the defect and gain an idea of its geometry, and have shown this to be a suitable fingerprint of the presence of the defect

Cyberloafing and Technostress: Working From Home During a Pandemic

The purpose of this study was to determine the difference between cyberloafing in employees working remotely prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and those working remotely due to the pandemic and if technostress was a moderator. Bandura’s social learning theory was the basis for this study. One concept of social learning theory, neutralization, may clarify why technostress may lead to cyberloafing. Blanchard and Henle defined cyberloafing as the personal use of email and the internet while working. Anandarajan et al. described the varying levels of cyberloafing- those considered recreational and those considered deviant. This study focused on the lower tier of cyberloafing behavior, such as checking personal email at work, browsing social media, and personal cell phone use. This study asked if employees working remotely due to the pandemic are engaging in cyberloafing more than employees working remotely prior to the pandemic, using a quantitative survey design. The survey was conducted online using Amazon Mechanical Turks, with 280 participants who did work remotely prior to the pandemic, and 289 participants that did not.Data were analyzed using a t-test to compare cyberloafing in both groups and the Hayes process to measure if technostress has a moderating effect. When looking at the differences in cyberloafing in remote employees, this study also looked at technostress as a moderator. The data analysis found no significant difference between employees working remotely due to the pandemic and those working remotely prior to the pandemic. Additional knowledge on the remote employees’ experience can help inspire positive social change to support this new generation of employees working from home

Social subsidies and marketization - the role of gender and skill

This paper decomposes the differences in aggregate market hours between US and Europe across gender-skill groups and finds that low-skilled women are the biggest contributors to aggregate differences, with the exception of Nordic countries. We develop a model to account for the gender-skill differences in market hours across countries. Taxes, which reduce market hours in favor of leisure and home production, explain a substantial fraction of the differences in hours for Southern and Central European countries. Subsidized family care, which reduces home hours of women in favor of market hours, explains the different pattern of hours in Nordic countries. Low-skilled women are more responsive to policy because of their comparative advantage in producing home services and the corresponding market substitutes

Identification of Shark Species in Commercial Products using DNA Barcoding

Sharks are harvested globally and sold in a variety of commercial products. However, they are particularly vulnerable to overfishing and many species are considered protected or endangered. The objective of this study was to identify species in various commercial shark products and to assess the effectiveness of three different DNA barcoding primer sets. Thirty-five products were collected for this study, including fillets, jerky, soup, and cartilage pills. DNA barcoding of these products was undertaken using two full-length primer sets and one mini-barcode primer set within the cytochrome c oxidase subunit (COI) gene. Successfully sequenced samples were then analyzed and identified to the species level using sequence databases and character-based analysis. When the results of all three primer sets were combined, 74.3% of the products were identified to the species level. Mini-barcoding showed the highest success rate for species identification (54.3%) and allowed for a wide range of identification capability. Six of the 26 identified products were found to be mislabeled or potentially mislabeled, including samples of shark cartilage pills, shark jerky, and shark fin soup. Six products contained species listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices and 23 products contained near-threatened, vulnerable or endangered species according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Overall, this study revealed that a combination of DNA barcoding primers can be utilized to identify species in a variety of processed shark products and thereby assist with conservation and monitoring efforts

What drives modern protected area establishment in Australia?

Protected areas are a fundamental mechanism for ensuring the persistence of biodiversity. The strategic policy objectives set by governments for protected area land acquisition are strong determinants of biodiversity outcomes. An examination of these objectives is necessary to determine those most influential in designing protected area networks and understand why Australia's extinction rates exceed those elsewhere despite actively establishing protected areas over the past several decades. To examine spatio-temporal trends in policy objectives for protected areas, we evaluated the strategic priorities in Federal, State, and Territory policy documents across Australia between 1992 and 2019 using thematic analysis. We classified priorities into seven themes: adequacy, Indigenous and cultural values; representation of ecosystem and species types; threatened species and their habitat; social and recreational values; unique values and avoiding threatening processes. We found that the representation of ecosystem and species types was the most prevalent theme in policy documents, and the least common theme was social and recreational values. We posit several reasons for this trend and warn that emphasizing extent, in terms of area or representativeness, may diminish the effectiveness, efficiency, and impact for biodiversity outcomes. We found that policies were generally supportive of the strategic identification of particular species or communities that would quantifiably benefit from protection (referred to as avoided loss). Risked-based approaches to the establishment of protected areas are supported by modern conservation literature to enhance the protected area network's effectiveness. To maximize limited resources, we recommend that governments continue encouraging urgency to avoid species and habitat loss in their strategic priorities. This urgency should be accompanied by clear and consistent funding for on-the-ground actions which facilitate the socio-ecological outcomes that characterize modern protected area policy

Elucidating the Effect of Water-To-Cement Ratio on the Hydration Mechanisms of Cement

The hydration of cement is often modeled as a phase boundary nucleation and growth (pBNG) process. Classical pBNG models, based on the use of isotropic and constant growth rate of the main hydrate, that is, calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H), are unable to explain the lack of any significant effect of the water-to-cement (w/c) ratio on the hydration kinetics of cement. This paper presents a modified form of the pBNG model, in which the anisotropic growth of C-S-H is allowed to vary in relation to the nonlinear evolution of its supersaturation in solution. Results show that once the supercritical C-S-H nuclei form, their growth remains confined within a region in proximity to the cement particles. This is hypothesized to be a manifestation of the sedimentation of cement particles, which imposes a space constraint for C-S-H growth. In pastes wherein the sedimentation of cement particles is disrupted, the hydration kinetics are no longer unresponsive to changes in w/c. Unlike C-S-H, the ions in solution are not confined, and hence, the supersaturation-dependent growth rate of C-S-H diminishes monotonically with increasing w/c. Overall, the outcomes of this work highlight important aspects that need to be considered in employing pBNG models for simulating hydration of cement-based systems

Community Voices in Child Support

Professional paper for the fulfillment of the Master of Public Policy degree.This project utilizes statistical data and stories from non-custodial parents to illustrate racial and economic disproportionalities in the Minnesota Child Support system caseload as well as in arrears and use of enforcements. Engagements with state and county frontline staff and non-custodial fathers further illuminates barriers created by current child support policies, practices, and communications strategies. Commonly described themes include debt/arrears, interest charging, orders that are too high for current income, difficult requesting adjustments to order and filing motions, and credit bureau reporting. Due to the volume of issues related to the driver’s license suspension enforcement and documented racial disproportionalities in its application, special attention is given to documenting and mapping these barriers. Prototypes of new CSD communication tools regarding driver’s license suspension are provided, while policy changes are also recommended in the long-ter

RESPONSABILIDADE SOCIAL INTERNA E SEUS REFLEXOS NO COMPORTAMENTO ORGANIZACIONAL

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo demonstrar a influência da adoção de práticas de Responsabilidade Social Interna no comportamento organizacional, focando no comportamento dos colaboradores, através do método pesquisa de referencial bibliográfico. Os resultados foram obtidos conforme a literatura: a literatura conceituaResponsabilidade Social Interna como a valorização e motivação das pessoas que fazem parte da empresa, onde estas terão oportunidades iguais e condições de sedesenvolver pessoal e profissionalmente (Orchis, Yung e Morales, 2002). Lourenço e Schroeder (2002) trazem que a Responsabilidade Social com seu público internopossibilita a criação, na empresa, de um ambiente de trabalho saudável, que resulta em maior produtividade, comprometimento e motivação