A Case Study Primer: Origins and Basic Principles

Case studies are a highly utilized methodology in the field of qualitative research The case study approach is appealing to researchers across the continuum from beginners to experts Unlike quantitative data that focuses upon numerical implications and statistics case studies allow the researcher to use various observational tools to collect indepth data about a given research inquiry This data collection tends to focus on a single case or group and often includes a more human or behavioral sense of direction within the confines of the research setting Case study practitioners also wish to see the interaction of subjects within this research setting as opposed to treating these subjects as wholly individualized entitie

Stacking the Deck against the Insurnace Industry: United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company v. Ferguson

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Community Mapping 2.0: Using Technology to Raise Community Awareness

Community mapping can be an important tool for educators who aim to freely allow students to share their own connections and experiences. During community mapping, students identify areas within their own localities that matter to them, and engage in various literacy events centered on those places. Often, classes will study foreign lands and cultures during the course of a school year. While this is a wonderful learning opportunity, do they take the time to look deeper into their own personal neighborhoods and surroundings? This study uncovers the nuances of community mapping, as a group of third grade students work through the process together. Through their work, they were able to positively increase their local knowledge as well as gain a deeper understanding of the thoughts, ideas, and opinions of their classmates. While this case study addresses elementary school students, it is possible to perform variations of community mapping with students of all ages. For those who interested in implementing community mapping in their own classrooms, this study serves as a step-by-step guide

Methodology for predicting maximum velocity and shear stress in a sinuous channel with bendway weirs using 1-D HEC-RAS modeling results

Department Head: Luis A. Garcia.2010 Summer.Includes bibliographical references (pages 226-235).The Middle Rio Grande is a 29-mi reach of the Rio Grande River in central New Mexico that extends from downstream of Cochiti Dam to Bernalillo, New Mexico. A series of anthropogenic factors including the construction of flood control levees and Cochiti Dam have altered the historically-braided morphology of the Middle Rio Grande to a more sinuous, degrading reach, with less overall channel migration within a natural floodplain area. Concentration of flow within an incised channel has caused areas of bank erosion and threatened riverside infrastructure, farmland productivity, irrigation systems, levee function, aquatic habitat, and riparian vegetation. Colorado State University (CSU) constructed an undistorted 1:12 Froude scale, fixed bed, physical model consisting of two channel bend geometries that are characteristic of the Middle Rio Grande reach below Cochiti Dam. Small rock structures extending from the outer bank of the bend into the main channel, referred to as bendway weirs, were constructed within each bend to research methods of stabilizing the outer bank with minimal disruption of sensitive habitat and riparian vegetation. Bendway weirs deflect current from the bank in which they are installed to the center of the channel, thus, moving erosive forces away from a degrading bank, establishing a stable channel, and providing or maintaining aquatic habitat between weir structures. Placement of bendway weirs along a river bank effectively creates two zones of flow: 1) the main or constricted flow where the velocity, shear stresses, and potential for channel degradation are increased, and 2) the area between weirs where velocities and shear stresses are greatly reduced and sediment deposition is encouraged. Design criterion to predict increases in velocity and shear stress caused by placement of bendway weirs in a channel bend has not yet been established. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional computer models have been utilized to describe complex flow phenomena associated with bendway weirs in channel bends; however, such computer models may not be practical for typical design projects (Jia et al., 2005; Molls, et al., 1995; Abad et al., 2008; Seed, 1997). Because of historic precedence, continual development, and prevalence in the engineering community, many engineers use one-dimensional (1-D) computer modeling tools, such as Hydrologic Engineering Center's River Analysis System (HEC-RAS), as a first choice in modeling channel flow. 1-D computer models were developed for the trapezoidal channel geometry present in the physical model and for fifteen weir configurations constructed during testing at CSU. Computed results from the 1-D models were compared to data collected from the Middle Rio Grande physical model. Regression relationships were developed to predict velocities and shear stresses in the trapezoidal channel constructed for physical testing at CSU, at the tips of the constructed bendway weirs, and along the inner bank opposite the constructed bendway weirs. From predictive regression relationships for the velocity and shear stress in channel bends, with and without bendway weirs, a four-step design process was developed to provide practicing engineers with guidance that can be used to design bendway weir fields

Revisiting a Classic: A Book Review of Understanding Reading: A Psycholinguistic Analysis of Reading and Learning

Often, the teaching profession spends a great deal of time looking towards the future, or considering what might be the next big trend that will help students. However, it is sometimes important to reflect back upon the texts and ideas that set the tone for the profession. Understanding Reading: A Psycholinguistic Analysis of Reading and Learning by Frank Smith is a classic text that laid the foundation for teachers of literacy to move from an existence of teaching rules and exceptions to becoming an actively involved participant in the process of building and facilitating comprehension in students of all ages. This crucial book must not be overlooked as educators forge ahead in the educational climate of today

Sensations, Feelings, and Expressions

Paper by Richard J. Sclafan

Overview and Summary of the Third AIAA High Lift Prediction Workshop

The third AIAA CFD High-Lift Prediction Workshop was held in Denver, Colorado, in June 2017. The goals of the workshop continued in the tradition of the first and second high-lift workshops: to assess the numerical prediction capability of current-generation computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology for swept, medium/high-aspect-ratio wings in landing/takeoff (high-lift) configurations. This workshop analyzed the flow over two different configurations, a clean high-lift version of the NASA Common Research Model, and the JAXA Standard Model. The former was a CFD-only study, as experimental data were not available prior to the workshop. The latter was a nacelle/pylon installation study that included comparison with experimental wind tunnel data. The workshop also included a 2-D turbulence model verification exercise. Thirty-five participants submitted a total of 79 data sets of CFD results. A variety of grid systems (both structured and unstructured) as well as different flow simulation methodologies (including Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes and Lattice-Boltzmann) were used. This paper analyzes the combined results from all workshop participants. A statistical summary of the CFD results is also included

Stress e grooming: la stagione degli amori in Lemur catta (Berenty, Madagascar, S 25.00° E 46.30°)

Lemur catta, appartenente alla famiglia dei Lemuridae, è una specie di proscimmia diurna endemica del Sud e del Sud-ovest del Madagascar, caratterizzata da un sistema sociale di tipo multi-male/multi-female, regolato da precise e strette relazioni di dominanza (Jolly,1966). Fin dagli anni ’70, numerosi studi hanno messo in luce una spiccata stagionalità di questa specie, non solo dal punto di vista fisiologico, ma anche comportamentale. Il ciclo riproduttivo strettamente stagionale di Lemur catta prevede che gli accoppiamenti si concentrino all’interno della stagione secca, durante la quale le risorse alimentari scarseggiano (Jolly, 1966; Lack, 1968; Petter-Rousseaux, 1968). Lemur catta, quindi, durante la stagione degli amori, deve soddisfare un’elevata richiesta energetica a fronte di una ridotta disponibilità di risorse. La dominanza femminile, le aggressioni mirate (Jolly, 1984; Pereira, 1995) e i cambiamenti stagionali nei livelli di aggressione (Sauther, 1993) sembrano essere possibili adattamenti alle difficoltà cui i lemuri devono far fronte durante la stagione secca. Per le specie sociali, come Lemur catta, le interazioni agonistiche e aggressive possono essere motivo di stress (Wingfield et al., 1991; Salposky, 1992b) e il rango di dominanza può influire sui livelli di stress fisico e sociale degli individui del gruppo (Salposky, 2005). Numerosi studi hanno dimostrato che in situazioni stressanti, accompagnate da stati di ansia e conflitti motivazionali, o successivamente ad un’interazione agonistica (Maestripieri et al., 1991), i Primati mostrano un’elevata frequenza di comportamenti di sostituzione (self-directed behaviors), che quindi possono essere considerati validi indicatori comportamentali dei loro stati emotivi. Lo scopo della mia ricerca è stato quello di analizzare le dinamiche sociali in una specie altamente despotica come Lemur catta, misurando quantitativamente la risposta emotiva di tali animali nell’ambito della stagione riproduttiva, particolarmente carica di tensione e stress sociale. Sono stati trovati livelli di scratching più elevati in seguito ad un’interazione aggressiva piuttosto che in un contesto rilassato; tale comportamento, inoltre, non è correlato con la posizione di rango degli individui e si presenta più frequentemente del self-grooming successivamente ad un’aggressione. Il comportamento di self-grooming, invece, è risultato correlato positivamente con le aggressioni subite dagli individui del gruppo e negativamente con quelle effettuate; la frequenza di tale comportamento non dipende dal contesto ed è risultata correlata alla posizione di rango occupata dagli individui del gruppo. Tali dati hanno fatto ipotizzare un’associazione tra comportamento di scratching e stress a breve termine e comportamento di self-grooming e stress a lungo termine. Per entrambi i comportamenti, i maschi presentano livelli maggiori rispetto alle femmine, soprattutto nella fase estro del periodo di studio. In tale fase è stata trovata anche una correlazione tra i due self-directed behaviors e il rango occupato dai membri del gruppo. È stata infine analizzata la distribuzione del grooming, valutando la sua possibile funzione come meccanismo per ridurre la tensione e lo stress (Terry, 1970; Keverne et al. 1989; Schino et al., 1988; Aureli et al., 1999) o come “merce di scambio” per l’accesso alle femmine in estro (mating market). È stata rilevata la presenza di reciprocità del grooming, indipendentemente dalla posizione di rango gerarchico; il grooming fatto dai maschi verso le femmine è risultato positivamente correlato con le aggressioni ricevute dai maschi ad opera delle femmine e, infine, nella fase estro, si è rilevata la reciprocità di tale comportamento tra maschi e femmine. Lo studio delle reazioni emotive sembrerebbe, quindi, un valido strumento per spiegare perché un animale metta in atto un determinato comportamento piuttosto che un altro e perché in uno stesso contesto individui diversi adottino strategie comportamentali diverse

Effects of hunger state on flavour pleasantness conditioning at home: flavour-nutrient learning vs. flavour-flavour learning

This study examined acquired liking of flavour preferences through flavour-flavour and flavour-nutrient learning under hungry or sated conditions in a naturalistic setting. Each participant consumed one of three versions of a test drink at home either before lunch or after lunch: minimally sweetened (CONTROL: 3% sucrose, 40kcal), artificially sweetened (3% sucrose 40kcal plus artificial sweeteners ASPARTAME) and sucrose-sweetened (SUCROSE: 9.9% sugar, 132kcal). The test drink was an uncarbonated peach-flavoured iced tea served in visually identical drink cans (330ml). Participants preselected as "sweet likers" evaluated the minimally sweetened flavoured drink (conditioned stimulus, CS) in the same state (hungry or sated) in which they consumed the test drink at home. Overall, liking for the CS flavour increased in participants who consumed the SUCROSE drink, however, this increase in liking was significantly larger when tested and trained hungry than sated, consistent with a flavour-nutrient model. Overall increases in pleasantness for the CS flavour in participants who consumed the SUCROSE drink when sated or the ASPARTAME drink independent of hunger state, suggest that flavour-flavour learning also occurred. These results are discussed in light of current learning models of flavour preference