Implementation and Analysis of the Entity Component System Architecture

The entity component system architecture (ECSA) is a data-oriented composition pattern and a data-driven design pattern. Data-oriented software takes into consideration generalized knowledge of hardware. Data-driven design is a methodology used to replace inflexible code with reusable components that can be added, deleted, or modified in interactive systems and games. This thesis explores the ECSA and its alternatives and their strengths and weaknesses. The paper details the creation of an ECSA and benchmarks its performance against object-oriented architectures. The hypothesis of this thesis is that the ECSA has CPU cache performance advantages over object-oriented architectures as tested by multiple benchmarks. The results suggest that the ECSA provides superior CPU performance. These results could be valuable for interactive game developers to get higher frame rates out of their games, MMORPG server developers to process millions of entities per second, and mobile developers to create battery-efficient apps

Water Use of Kentucky Bluegrass Varieties Grown Under Greenhouse Conditions

Drought tolerance is an important trait for turfgrass in order to create more sustainable urban landscapes. One part of this trait is plant water use. Lower water use rates may translate to less irrigation needed to maintain turfgrass quality and function. My study addressed this issue by measuring actual water use rates of nine Kentucky bluegrass varieties in greenhouse conditions. I also evaluated the visual quality of the grasses, and their growth rate. Each variety differed in all traits that we measured. The variety Diva used the least water in the study and maintained good turfgrass quality. Chateau exhibited the highest water use rate while also maintain good quality

Using a household food inventory to assess the availability of traditional vegetables among resettled African refugees

A cross-sectional sequential explanatory mixed methods study was conducted among household food preparers to examine the association between home availability and consumption of traditional vegetables among resettled African refugees living in Queensland, Australia. Home availability of traditional African vegetables was associated with age, having a vegetable garden, employment status, and having a supermarket in the local neighborhood. Food preparers from homes with low vegetable availability were less likely to consume the recommended number of vegetable servings. Barriers faced in the food environment included language, lack of availability of traditional vegetables and lack of transport. All of these aspects contributed to the study findings that both individual and food environment characteristics may play a role in access to and availability of food and vegetable consumption of resettled refugees. Consumption of traditional foods among the resettled refugees continues post resettlemen

The Future of Economic Development for African Americans in the Chicago Metropolitan Area: The Next Ten Years (Futures Study)

Based on a survey, focus groups, and research on how Chicago's African Americans see their economic future, presents four scenarios by levels of investment in education and entrepreneurship-workforce development. Includes high-priority policy responses

Finding the early talent: Factors predicting early advanced math enrollment

Early exposure to advanced math classes have shown higher levels of college readiness for students. However, there is evidence of a discriminatory gap among students of marginalized backgrounds in placement of these advanced courses. To examine this, three years of data from approximately 10,500 student will be used to develop and validate predictive models that examines both enrollment and performance in advanced math courses in the eighth grade. Data will come from a longitudinal study taking place in rural North Carolina. This research will use the predictive models to determine which students will be selected for eighth grade advanced math and if there is a selection bias for which eighth grade students are chosen to begin advanced math classes

It is all how you look at it: The relationship between performance appraisal formats and perceived purposefulness

Perceptions of performance appraisal fairness, accuracy, and purposefulness by employees is crucial in developing an effective performance appraisal system (Iqbal, Akbar, & Budhwar, 2015). Research suggests that rating accuracy and perceptions of fairness are of the greatest concern to organizations, however, there is minimal research regarding perceived purposefulness of the performance appraisal system. Additionally, there is a lack of literature looking at how manager perceptions of these factors relates to effective performance appraisal. In order to address these gaps in literature, the present study aims to examine how performance appraisal formats relate to managers’ perceived purposefulness of the performance appraisal system. The current study looks at data from a survey given to library directors at four-year academic institutions in which the participants provide details of their performance appraisal system and their opinions regarding the importance and effectiveness of the system. The responses will be analyzed to determine how the format used in performance appraisal systems relates to the perceived purposefulness of the system by library directors

Green engagement: An investigation into the relationship of Millennial engagement and an organization’s sustainable performance score

Since the start of the 21st century, the issue of sustainability in business and Human Resource practices has been a central topic of interest. More recently, human resources has come under considerable pressure to prove its worth, primarily by producing a more productive and engaged workforce. Sustainability has, thus, become an extremely interesting avenue of study for HR professionals as, at its core, sustainable practices aim to better all parts of an organization from the social, to the environmental, to the financial (the three components of the triple bottom line). This study will investigate the relationship between the extent to which Millennials are engaged in an organization and that organization’s score on sustainable performance measures

Development of a new humanized mouse model to study acute inflammatory arthritis

BACKGROUND: Substantial advances have been generated in understanding the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Current murine models of RA-like disease have provided great insights into the molecular mechanism of inflammatory arthritis due to the use of genetically deficient or transgenic mice. However, these studies are limited by differences that exist between human and murine immune systems. Thus, the development of an animal model that utilizes human immune cells, will afford the opportunity to study their function in the initiation and propagation of inflammatory arthritis. METHODS: One to two-day old irradiated NOD-scid IL2rγ(null) (NSG) mice were reconstituted with human CD34+ cord blood stem cells. Leukocytes were analyzed by flow cytometry and circulating antibodies were determined by ELISA. Arthritis was induced by injecting complete Freund’s adjuvant into knee or ankle joints. Mice were also treated with the TNF inhibitor, Etanercept, or PBS and joints were analyzed histologically. RESULTS: Humanized mice were established with high reconstitution rates and were able to spontaneously produce human immunoglobulins as well as specific IgG in response to immunization. Intraperitoneal injection of thioglycolate or injection of complete Freund’s adjuvant into joints resulted in migration of human immune cells to the injected sites. Arthritic humanized mice treated with Etanercept had markedly less inflammation, which was associated with decreased total numbers of human CD45+ cells, including human lymphocytes and neutrophils. CONCLUSIONS: The humanized mouse model is a new model to study inflammatory arthritis disease using human leukocytes without rejection of engrafted tissue. Future studies may adapt this system to incorporate RA patient cord blood and develop a chimeric animal model of inflammatory arthritis using genetically predisposed immune cells

VCU Gives Back

We propose the establishment of an organization wide series of community service events beginning at homecoming and culminating in April during National Volunteer Week with a large scale event, in an effort to bring a sense of unity among the students, faculty and staff within the organization while helping the communities surrounded by VCU

Understanding Assistive Programs: Evaluating the Impact of Various Math Services on Student Performance

High school math performance has the potential to have a positive impact on later educational success. This project seeks to determine the role of math services and intervention programs including online and in-person tutoring, workshops, coaching, physical tools, and other class services on students’ performance in the North Carolina’s High School Math 1 course. Data being used was gathered from rural North Carolina middle and high schools by the college access program GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs). The effects of these services will be measured by End of Grade (EOG) test and course grades in the Math 1 course. This project will help develop a deeper understanding of how these types of intervention services impact students\u27 performance in current and future math courses