Tsunami Elemental Signatures in the Samoan Islands: A Case Study

This study uses Itrax X-ray fluorescence element data available for Samoan sediment cores, obtained from three separate locations after the 2009 tsunami in this region, to identify its elemental characteristics in the coastal landscape. Normalization of data using Al reveals a distinct elevated elemental signature for this event at sites which had experienced inundation. This provides benchmarks for identifying comparable signatures in the core profiles which likely represent past tsunamis to have inundated each site. Such information can support a better understanding of the frequency and longer-term threats posed by tsunamis in this region. The findings presented are consistent with benchmark tsunami Itrax observations at Little Pigeon Bay following the 2016 Kaikōura Tsunami in New Zealand. Furthermore, they reinforce the normalization of Itrax element data using Al to interpret tsunami episodes in sediment cores, in addition to using high resolution core scanning as an effective non-destructive tool to screen likely tsunami deposits for more targeted multi-proxy analysis

Accessibility to public high schools and school performance in metropolitan Baton Rouge, Louisiana 1990-2010

Education policies developed to initiate improvements to public school systems across Louisiana often result in a continuation or intensification of salient yet overlooked accessibility challenges. The public high school and its students have been particularly susceptible to these actions which have been sustained for decades within the state despite the increasing awareness of individual and community hardships connected to high school level inadequacies. Beyond isolated district studies or aggregate state reports, limited focus has been placed on student accessibility to public high schools or on responses of students and communities to processes which alter their access to area high schools. This study advances the role GIS in historical geography and education research by implementing the Two-Step Floating Catchment Area (2SFCA) method to link historical phenomena with contemporary accessibility conditions for social groups within the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area (BRMSA). This work implements the 2SFCA method and two derivatives to gauge the transitions of high school accessibility from 1990 to 2010 and challenge heuristic approaches which demote the influence of geography in policymaking which effects high school accessibility. A regression analysis revealed a moderately strong positive association between spatial accessibility determined the 2SFCA and school accountability scores established by the Louisiana Department of Education with 2010 data. Additionally, this examination found urban areas, particularly Baton Rouge, have experienced the lowest levels of spatial accessibility and correspondingly low accountability scores, which in most cases have only continued through time when compared to nonurban high schools. Together these analyses support the potential attraction of suburban high schools within the BRMSA. The conclusion of a series of common factor analyses implemented to complement accessibility measurements further support the attraction argument and the overall link between access, accountability, race, and geography as a potential offshoot of the White flight phenomenon was captured in the 2010 implementation

Black Male Student-Athletes and Racial Inequities in NCAA Division I College Sports

The purpose of this report is to make transparent racial inequities in NCAA Division I college sports. Specifically, the authors offer a four-year analysis of Black men's representation on football and basketball teams versus their representation in the undergraduate student body on each campus. The report concludes with recommendations for the NCAA and commissioners of the six major sports conferences, college and university leaders, coaches and athletics directors, journalists, and Black male student-athletes and their families

‘We’re not run on Numbers, We’re People, We’re Emotional People’: Exploring the experiences and lived consequences of emerging technologies, organizational surveillance and control among elite professionals

The deployment of digital technologies and data analytics within contemporary organizations are continually seeking to capture vast reams of information to shape employee performance and guide behaviour. However, there is a need to further advance our understanding of the effects and unintended consequences of these technologies within differing organizational contexts. Drawing on the experiences of members connected to a UK-based professional Rugby Union club, we focus on the impact of emerging technologies and ubiquitous surveillance practices in governing employee behaviour, shifting workplace boundaries and providing the ability to resist a mode of organizational control governed by data analytics. Specific emphasis is placed upon exposing the lived consequences and tensions that emerge among employees subjected to an intensive mode of organizational surveillance. In doing so, this study highlights the manner in which emerging technologies and surveillance practices may contribute towards feelings of anxiety, precariousness and performance fatigue among their employees. Through this analysis, we aim to provide a critical understanding of managerial and leadership techniques of control, surveillance and knowledge production that may prove relevant for future research in wider organizational settings shaped by technological transformations and new forms of data-driven management

CATASTROPHIC FLANK COLLAPSE ON TA’U ISLAND AND SUBSEQUENT TSUNAMI: HAS THIS OCCURRED DURING THE LAST 170 YEARS?

Ta’u, the easternmost inhabited island in the Samoan Islands archipelago, exhibits a series of down-faulted benches on its southern flank, believed to be the remnant of ~30 km3 catastrophic collapse. A historical map of Ta’u charted in 1839 during the United States Exploring Expedition, which did not show the benches, suggests that the event occurred less than 170 years ago. A collapse event of this magnitude would have generated a locally devastating tsunami, with possible impacts experienced at the regional level. However, no written or oral records of such an event exist. A number of key questions thus emerge, and formed the basis for this study. Did this event actually happen within the last 170 years, and if so, how and why could it have gone unnoticed? Or, is the event much older than the impression obtained from the literature? The catastrophic flank collapse was modeled using 100 m contour-resolution bathymetry data of the Ta’u region, coupled with rational assumptions made on the geometry of the failed mass. This enabled numerical landslide- tsunami simulation in the Cornell Multigrid Coupled Tsunami Model (COMCOT). The results indicate that if an event of this magnitude occurred in the last 170 years, it could not have gone unnoticed by local inhabitants. It thus seems likely that the initial survey conducted during the Exploring Expedition was inaccurate. Nevertheless, the well-preserved nature of the benches indicates collapse relatively recently and raises the possibility of future collapse

Ungrading Uncovered: How Going Gradeless Can Support Learner Diversity in Higher Education

The awarding of grades or marks to student work is traditionally considered a fundamental feature of assessment. Traditional grades, the awarding of numeric values to student work, date back to the 1600s where Harvard used exit grades to measure and categorize students (Smallwood, 1935). Grades became more widely established in the education sector at the beginning of the twentieth century to deal with increased numbers of students and as a means of communication between educational institutions and third parties, a form of universal measurement. Although becoming ubiquitous across most educational spectrums in the second half of the twentieth century, there is mounting evidence to suggest that grades are not effective tools for measuring learning. A number of institutions and individual practitioners have moved away from grading in the hope of improving motivation, collaboration and lifelong learning for their students (Brilleslyper, et al., 2012) (White & Fantone, 2014) (Sackstein, 2015) (Beckie, 2019). With calls for a ‘Pedagogy of Care’ (Bali, 2020) and a decolonising of curriculum (Begum, & Saini, 2019) new approaches are being explored to replace traditional grading practices., One alternative approach is ungrading, , in which no letter grades or marks are given to students, has gained momentum. Recent literature (Blum, 2017) (Gibbs, 2019) suggests that ungrading increases motivation reduces stress, enhances independence, helps form new learning habits, makes room for creative work, promotes better communication, and opens up new course design possibilities. Strategies to go gradeless include providing plentiful formative feedback, facilitating peer and self-assessment, teaching students metacognitive skills through reflection, and (if the academic institution requires a final grade) allowing students to grade themselves (Stommel, 2018) (Sackstein, 2015) (Stommel, 2017). The involvement of students as partners in assessment has been shown to enhance motivation, self-critical learning, and performance (Logan, 2009) (Ndoye, 2017) (Panadero & Al-Qassab, 2019). This paper presents three case studies(action research) based on the delivery of undergraduate modules in an Irish Higher education setting using an ‘Ungrading’ approach The 3 case studies describe activities that took place during the 2020-2021 academic year, in the midst of the global Covid pandemic. Two of the modules are from the Creative Digital Media BA Programme, (Multimedia Development 1 & Web Development 2) and a module in IT & Professional Development as part of a BSc in Horticulture. Each case study will detail the rationale for choosing ungrading, mechanics for delivery and reflection based on qualitative feedback from the three practitioners and student cohorts. The paper concludes by suggesting strategies for the effective implementation of ungrading in undergraduate classes to support diverse learner needs