Bibliometrics and Social Network Analysis of Doctoral Research: Research Trends In Distance Learning

The study investigated research topics of doctoral dissertations that examined issues in distance learning from 2000-2014. Twelve reviews of research on distance learning, spanning from 1997-2015, were identified. It was found that only one of these reviews of research (Davies, Howell, & Petri, 2010) looked at doctoral dissertations. The authors noted that investigating dissertations was complicated and daunting because 1) only a fraction made full text available and 2) there were a large number of dissertations in the area. To counter for these complications the current study utilized bibliometric and social network analysis to investigate dissertation database listings, including abstracts, keywords, classifications, and other bibliographic data. Bibliographic data for dissertation listings (n=3,954) was exported from the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I (PQDT) database. Software developed for the study formatted the data and imported it into a series of databases. Natural language processing techniques were utilized to pull emergent keywords from dissertation abstracts. Department and University types were analyzed. Dissertation reference sections were investigated utilizing co-citation analysis. Author generated keywords and emergent keywords from abstracts were investigated utilizing keyword co-occurrence network analysis. Findings indicated that dissertations came from 17 department types including education-oriented department types, such as Educational Leadership, Educational Technology, and Educational Psychology, as well as non-education-oriented departments, such as Business, Psychology, and Nursing. Seven research topics were found to be pervasive in dissertations from 2000-2014: Student, Instructor, Interaction, Administration and Management, Design, Educational Context, and Technological Medium. No change was found over time; rather these seven topics remained the most central nodes in each of the keyword co-occurrence networks. Finally this method of investigation relied heavily on algorithms developed for the study to aid in data formatting and analysis. The merits of this highly automated SNA approach were discussed. Use of abstracts and natural language processing enabled a much higher n size (n=3954) to be investigated than in comparison with the only other study to analyze distance education dissertations Davies et al. (2010) where n=100. This method enabled the heavy lifting to be dedicated to the interpretation of the results, rather than data preparation

Three & One

Faculty recital at USU.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/music_programs/1260/thumbnail.jp

Using Raman Spectroscopy to Improve Hyperpolarized Noble Gas Production for Clinical Lung Imaging Techniques

Spin-exchange optical pumping (SEOP) can be used to “hyperpolarize” 129Xe for human lung MRI. SEOP involves transfer of angular momentum from light to an alkali metal (Rb) vapor, and then onto 129Xe nuclear spins during collisions; collisions between excited Rb and N2 ensure that incident optical energy is nonradiatively converted into heat. However, because variables that govern SEOP are temperature-dependent, the excess heat can complicate efforts to maximize spin polarization—particularly at high laser fluxes and xenon densities. Ultra-low frequency Raman spectroscopy may be used to perform in situ gas temperature measurements to investigate the interplay of energy thermalization and SEOP dynamics. Experimental configurations include an “orthogonal” pump-and-probe design and a newer “inline” design (with source and detector on the same axis) that has provided a >20-fold improvement in SNR. The relationship between 129Xe polarization and the spatiotemporal distribution of N2 rotational temperatures has been investigated as a function of incident laser flux, exterior cell temperature, and gas composition. Significantly elevated gas temperatures have been observed—hundreds of degrees hotter than exterior cell surfaces—and variances with position and time can indicate underlying energy transport, convection, and Rb mass-transport processes that, if not controlled, can negatively impact 129Xe hyperpolarization

Medicare Payments for Common Inpatient Procedures: Implications for Episode-Based Payment Bundling

Aiming to align provider incentives toward improving quality and efficiency, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is considering broader bundling of hospital and physician payments around episodes of inpatient surgery. Decisions about bundled payments would benefit from better information about how payments are currently distributed among providers of different perioperative services and how payments vary across hospitals.Using the national Medicare database, we identified patients undergoing one of four inpatient procedures in 2005 (coronary artery bypass [CABG], hip fracture repair, back surgery, and colectomy). For each procedure, price-standardized Medicare payments from the date of admission for the index procedure to 30 days postdischarge were assessed and categorized by payment type (hospital, physician, and postacute care) and subtype.Average total payments for inpatient surgery episodes varied from U.S.$26,515 for back surgery to U.S.$45,358 for CABG. Hospital payments accounted for the largest share of total payments (60–80 percent, depending on procedure), followed by physician payments (13–19 percent) and postacute care (7–27 percent). Overall episode payments for hospitals in the lowest and highest payment quartiles differed by U.S.$16,668 for CABG, U.S.$18,762 for back surgery, U.S.$10,615 for hip fracture repair, and U.S.$12,988 for colectomy. Payments to hospitals accounted for the largest share of variation in payments. Among specific types of payments, those associated with 30-day readmissions and postacute care varied most substantially across hospitals.Fully bundled payments for inpatient surgical episodes would need to be dispersed among many different types of providers. Hospital payments—both overall and for specific services—vary considerably and might be reduced by incentives for hospitals and physicians to improve quality and efficiency.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79298/1/j.1475-6773.2010.01150.x.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79298/2/HESR_1150_sm_authormatrix.pd

E-Mentoring Strategies for Cross-Cultural Learning and Community Building

This paper builds on mentoring practices by describing the strategies and results of cross-cultural group e-mentoring in an inquiry-based online course activity that supported Sri-Lankan faculty as online learners or protégés and higher-education students in their quest for knowledge and community. It focuses on the online e-mentoring experience of eight e-mentors in the United States (master\u27s and doctoral students at the University of New Mexico) who engaged in a three-week-long, cross-cultural problem-solving learning activity using Moodle

An interferon signature is associated with HAM/TSP but not viral containment in HTLV-1 infection

International audiencen.

Gridmapping the northern plains of Mars: Geomorphological, Radar and Water-Equivalent Hydrogen results from Arcadia Plantia

A project of mapping ice-related landforms was undertaken to understand the role of sub-surface ice in the northern plains. This work is the first continuous regional mapping from CTX (“ConTeXt Camera”, 6 m/pixel; Malin et al., 2007) imagery in Arcadia Planitia along a strip 300 km across stretching from 30°N to 80°N centred on the 170° West line of longitude. The distribution and morphotypes of these landforms were used to understand the permafrost cryolithology. The mantled and textured signatures occur almost ubiquitously between 35° N and 78° N and have a positive spatial correlation with inferred ice stability based on thermal modelling, neutron spectroscopy and radar data. The degradational features into the LDM (Latitude Dependent Mantle) include pits, scallops and 100 m polygons and provide supporting evidence for sub-surface ice and volatile loss between 35-70° N in Arcadia with the mantle between 70-78° N appearing much more intact. Pitted terrain appears to be much more pervasive in Arcadia than in Acidalia and Utopia suggesting that the Arcadia study area had more wide-spread near-surface sub-surface ice, and thus was more susceptible to pitting, or that the ice was less well-buried by sediments. Correlations with ice stability models suggest that lack of pits north of 65-70° N could indicate a relatively young age (~1Ma), however this could also be explained through regional variations in degradation rates. The deposition of the LDM is consistent with an airfall hypothesis however there appears to be substantial evidence for fluvial processes in southern Arcadia with older, underlying processes being equally dominant with the LDM and degradation thereof in shaping the landscape

Fire Treatment Effects on Vegetation Structure, Fuels, and Potential Fire Severity in Western US Forests

Forest structure and species composition in many western U. S. coniferous forests have been altered through. re exclusion, past and ongoing harvesting practices, and livestock grazing over the 20th century. The effects of these activities have been most pronounced in seasonally dry, low and mid-elevation coniferous forests that once experienced frequent, low to moderate intensity,. re regimes. In this paper, we report the effects of Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) forest stand treatments on fuel load profiles, potential fire behavior, and fire severity under three weather scenarios from six western U. S. FFS sites. This replicated, multisite experiment provides a framework for drawing broad generalizations about the effectiveness of prescribed. re and mechanical treatments on surface fuel loads, forest structure, and potential. re severity. Mechanical treatments without. re resulted in combined 1-, 10-, and 100-hour surface fuel loads that were significantly greater than controls at three of five FFS sites. Canopy cover was significantly lower than controls at three of five FFS sites with mechanical-only treatments and at all five FFS sites with the mechanical plus burning treatment;. re-only treatments reduced canopy cover at only one site. For the combined treatment of mechanical plus. re, all five FFS sites with this treatment had a substantially lower likelihood of passive crown. re as indicated by the very high torching indices. FFS sites that experienced significant increases in 1-, 10-, and 100-hour combined surface fuel loads utilized harvest systems that left all activity fuels within experimental units. When mechanical treatments were followed by prescribed burning or pile burning, they were the most effective treatment for reducing crown fire potential and predicted tree mortality because of low surface fuel loads and increased vertical and horizontal canopy separation. Results indicate that mechanical plus fire, fire-only, and mechanical-only treatments using whole-tree harvest systems were all effective at reducing potential. re severity under severe. re weather conditions. Retaining the largest trees within stands also increased. re resistance