Comparison of Online Student vs. Public Student Performance on the ACT

This action research study compared the ACT scores of students from an online high school and a public high school in Sioux Center, Iowa. ACT scores in Reading, Math and the Composite score were collected for both groups and then the mean was taken for each group. A t-test was performed to evaluate if there is a significant difference in student performance between online delivery and face to face educational delivery. The result shows that online students outperform public school students in the reading portion of the exam; while the public school students out-perform on the math portion showing no statistical difference in the composite. This suggests that online and public students perform similarly overall on the ACT and that further study is warranted on this topic

An Open Context for Near Eastern Archaeology

The common use by archaeologists of ubiquitous technologies such as computers and digital cameras means that archaeological research projects now produce huge amounts of diverse, digital documentation. However, while the technology is available to collect this documentation, we still largely lack community-accepted dissemination channels appropriate for such torrents of data. Open Context aims to help fill this gap by providing open access data publication services for archaeology. Open Context has a flexible and generalized technical architecture that can accommodate most archaeological datasets, despite the lack of common recording systems or other documentation standards. It includes a variety of tools to make data dissemination easier and more worthwhile. Authorship is clearly identified through citation tools, including web-based publication systems that enable individuals to upload their own data for review, and collaboration is facilitated through easy download and "tagging" features. Near Eastern archaeologists will benefit from Open Context's flexibility to share a variety of content from diverse projects, no matter how large or small. This article was originally published in Near Eastern Archaeology (ISSN 1094-2076), Volume 70, Number 4, December 2007

Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Supervisees’ Experiences of LGB-Affirmative and Nonaffirmative Supervision

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) supervisees were interviewed regarding their experiences of LGB affirmative and nonaffirmative supervision. Supervisees were asked to describe one of each type of event (i.e., affirmative, nonaffirmative) from their past supervision. In LGB-affirmative supervision, all supervisees felt supported in their LGB-affirmative work with clients. Supervisees perceived that the affirming events also positively affected the supervision relationship, client outcomes, and themselves as supervisees. In LGB nonaffirming supervision, supervisees perceived supervisors to be biased or oppressive toward supervisees’ clients or themselves on the basis of LGB concerns or identity. From supervisees’ perspectives, the nonaffirming events negatively affected the supervision relationship, client outcomes, and supervisees. Implications for research and supervision are discussed

Fear and Frustration: A Qualitative Analysis of the Social and Political Impacts of COVID-19 on U.S. Older Adults

The COVID-19 pandemic had dramatic impacts on the physical, social, and emotional health of individuals. Older adults, in particular, have experienced the highest mortality rates and the greatest concerns ranging from physical safety to economic stress to social isolation. This paper presents findings drawn from the COVID-19 Coping Study, a national longitudinal study of the social, behavioral, health, and economic pandemic impacts on older adults (aged 55+) in the U.S. The authors qualitatively analyzed attitudes, behaviors, fears, and frustrations expressed by the study participants in an open-ended survey question during the monthly follow-up survey in Fall 2020. The results revealed four major ways that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected older adults with regard to their sources of community: missing interactions with people; concern for safety from the virus; collective frustrations with the pandemic; and frustrations creating divisions within communities. This study sheds light on the struggles of older adults during a pandemic and may help inform future research on coping strategies and ways to better prepare for potential pandemics in the future

Cultural Intelligence as it Relates to American Sign Language Interpretation

Undergraduat

How Changes in Plant Community Structure Affect Terrestrial Invertebrate Food Webs

We investigated how change in plant community composition and vegetative structure brought about by annual grass-specific herbicide application affects terrestrial arthropod communities, with special emphasis on the potential mutualists and predators of the endangered Fender’s blue butterfly, Plebejus icarioides fenderi (Family: Lycaenidae). Larvae of this species form facultative protective mutualisms with ants, and they may be preyed upon by numerous invertebrate predators. We used pitfall trapping to compare terrestrial invertebrate community structure between control and herbicide-treated plots through time. The extent to which major changes in plant community composition affect the rest of the invertebrate community may have relevance for management decisions if the focus of the conservation effort has strong ecological interactions with greatly affected non-target species

Novel Reduced GWP Refrigerant Compositions To Replace R-134a in Stationary Air-conditioning and Refrigeration

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) have replaced chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) as non-ozone depleting fluids in many applications, including as refrigerants, solvents, aerosols, and blowing agents for insulating foams. However, some HFCs have relatively high Global Warming Potential (GWP) and are coming under closer scrutiny due to the increasing concern over global climate change. The focus now is on the search for the next generation of environmentally sustainable working fluids with negligible direct environmental impact in terms of both ozone depletion and global warming potential. Development of low-GWP options should be balanced with respect to safety, performance, ease of use, and energy efficiency. Indeed, greenhouse gas emissions come not only from direct emissions but also largely from indirect sources based on energy consumption. It is therefore important that energy efficiency remain a primary consideration when implementing low-GWP solutions, as replacing a high-GWP fluid with a lower GWP, but less efficient option may actually increase greenhouse gas emissions, thereby degrading the overall Life Cycle Climate Performance (LCCP). This paper introduces a novel low GWP refrigerant composition to replace R-134a. Thermodynamic properties as well as theoretical and experimental evaluation of this refrigerant is being discussed. Results are compared to baselin

Plant community structure mediates potential methane production and potential iron reduction in wetland mesocosms.

Abstract Wetlands are the largest natural source of methane to the atmosphere, but factors controlling methane emissions from wetlands are a major source of uncertainty in greenhouse gas budgets and projections of future climate change. We conducted a controlled outdoor mesocosm experiment to assess the effects of plant community structure (functional group richness and composition) on potential methane production and potential iron reduction in freshwater emergent marshes. Four plant functional groups (facultative annuals, obligate annuals, reeds, and tussocks) were arranged in a full-factorial design and additional mesocosms were assigned as no-plant controls. Soil samples from the top 10 cm were collected three times during the growing season to determine potential methane production and potential iron reduction (in unamended soils and in soils amended with 200 mM formate). These data were compared to soil organic matter, soil pH, and previously published data on above and belowground plant biomass. We found that functional group richness was less important than the presence of specific functional groups (reeds or tussocks) in mediating potential iron reduction. In our mesocosms, where oxidized iron was abundant and electron donors were limiting, iron reducing bacteria outcompeted methanogens, keeping methane production barely detectable in unamended lab incubations. When the possibility of re-oxidizing iron was eliminated via anaerobic incubations and the electron donor limitation was removed by adding formate, potential methane production increased and followed the same patterns as potential iron reduction. Our findings suggest that in the absence of abundant oxidized iron and/or the presence of abundant electron donors, wetlands dominated by either reeds or tussocks may have increased methane production compared to wetlands dominated by annuals. Depending on functional traits such as plant transport and rhizospheric oxygenation capacities, this could potentially lead to increased methane emissions in some wetlands. Additional research examining the role these plant functional groups play in other aspects of methane dynamics will be useful given the importance of methane as a greenhouse gas