Impact of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill: An Examination of Retention of First Year Students in the Hampton Roads Area

The Post-9/11 G.I. Bill has had a tremendous impact on higher education institutions (HEI) across the country. As of 2011, the Veterans Administration (VA) had issued G.I. Bill payments to almost 500,000 veterans. This research examines the effect of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill on student retention in different types of HEIs in the Hampton Roads region of Southeastern Virginia, an area that has a high number of military and military-affiliated residents. Ex post facto data from various institutions have been compared, with a public university, a for-profit college, and a two-year public community college to examine the retention rates of first year students using their Post-9/11 G.I. Bill benefits between 2009 and 2010. This research contributes to the literature in several ways. First, the G.I. Bill, passed in 1944 has had limited research associated with its usage in colleges and universities (DiRamio, Ackerman, & Mitchell, 2008; Rumann, 2009). Second, with the advent of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, administrators of HEIs and the federal government are examining this law in two ways: the administrators are examining the amount of money coming in from this benefit and the federal government is examining the amount of money coming in from this benefit and the federal government is examining the number of dollars going out to HEIs. Third, research that has been conducted on the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill deals primarily with qualitative data; this quantitative research will provide benchmark areas for other HEIs to compare themselves as the Hampton Roads region is well represented through the use of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill (Stripling, 2010)

Teaching Interactively Using Web-Conferencing: The Student Perspective

The Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Department (EMSE) of Old Dominion University (ODU) Batten College of Engineering and Technology (BCET) has employed distance-learning technologies for well over three decades. Although the current technologies provide a valuable service for many geographically dispersed students, the faculty continues to explore additional distance learning tools, technologies and methods to promote more student participation and active learning. The goal of this paper is to describe and evaluate an innovative instructional approach using interactive web conferencing in hybrid courses. This paper will explore the use of web conferencing to teach graduate-level courses and explore the impact of this type of web-based instruction on student engagement and participation in hybrid courses. In particular, the paper will report the results of a mixed methods exploratory study of student perceptions about the effectiveness of the new technology as a teaching tool. Finally, lessons learned from several semesters of practice will be presented

The granite‑hosted Variscan gold deposit from Santo António mine in the Iberian Massif (Penedono, NW Portugal): constraints from mineral chemistry, fuid inclusions, sulfur and noble gases isotopes

The study area is located in the Central Iberian Zone, a major tectonic unit of the Iberian Massif (Variscan belt). In this region the basement is composed of Cambrian-Ordovician sedimentary and minor volcanic rocks that underwent deformation and metamorphism during the Carboniferous. These metamorphic rocks host ca. 331–308 Ma granitic plutons emplaced during the D2 extensional and D3–D4 contractional deformation phases. The gold-bearing quartz veins from the Santo António mine (Penedono region) occur in granite formed at 310.1 ± 1.1 Ma and post-dated the peak of metamorphism. Gold–silver alloy is included in quartz, but mainly occurs in spaces between grains or micro-fractures within arsenopyrite of all three generations and less in pyrite. Late sulphides and sulphosalts were deposited along fractures mainly in arsenopyrite, and locally surrounding the gold–silver alloy grains. Ferberite, scheelite and stolzite replace arsenopyrite. The abundant aqueous carbonic fluids and the occurrence of a low-salinity fluid and their minimum possible entrapment temperature of 360–380 °C suggest that this gold-forming event began during the waning stages of the Variscan orogeny. The mean δ34S values of arsenopyrite and pyrite are − 4.7‰ and − 3.8‰, respectively. He–Ar–Ne isotopic data suggest a crustal origin. The ascent of the granite magma has provided the heat for remobilization of gold, other metals and metalloids from the metamorphic rocks. This gold-arsenopyrite deposit has thus similar characteristics as other selected gold-arsenopyrite deposits from the Iberian Massif, but it contains tungstates.El área de estudio está ubicada en la Zona Centroibérica, una importante unidad tectónica del Macizo Ibérico (cinturón varisco). En esta región el basamento está compuesto por rocas sedimentarias y volcánicas del Cámbrico-Ordovícico tectonizadas y metamorfzadas durante el Carbonífero. Estas rocas metamórfcas sirven como caja de los plutones graníticos datados en torno a 331–308 Ma y que fueron emplazados durante la fase de deformación extensional D2 y las fases de deformación contraccional D3 y D4. Las venas de cuarzo ricas en oro de la mina de Santo António (región de Penedono) que aparecen en un granito datado a los 310.1 ± 1.1 Ma son posteriores al pico metamórfco regional. La aleación de oro y plata se incluye en el cuarzo, pero se produce principalmente en los espacios entre granos o micro-fracturas dentro de arsenopirita de las tres generaciones y menos en pirita. Los sulfuros y sulfuros tardíos se depositaron a lo largo de las fracturas principalmente en arsenopirita, y alrededor de los granos de aleación de oro y plata. Ferberita, scheelita y la estolzita sustituyen a la arsenopirita. Los abundantes líquidos acuosos carbónicos y la presencia de un fuido de baja salinidad y su posible temperatura de atrapamiento mínima en torno de 360-380 ºC sugieren que este evento de formación de oro comenzó durante las etapas fnales de la orogenia varisca. Los valores medios de S de arsenopirita y pirita son − 4.7 ‰ y − 3.8 ‰, respectivamente. Los datos isotópicos de He–Ar–Ne sugieren que en el origen de los fuidos mineralizados participa la corteza continental. El ascenso del magma granítico ha provisto el calor para la movilización del oro, otros metales y metaloides desde las rocas metamórfcas. Este depósito de oroarsenopirita tiene así características similares a otros yaciamientos con arsenopirita y oro del Macizo Ibérico, pero sin embargo contienen tungstates.This research was financially supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia through the projects GOLDGranites, Orogenesis, Long-term strain/stress and Deposition of ore metals—PTDC/GEO-GEO/2446/2012: COMPETE: FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-029192 and UID/GEO/04035/2013

1.4 The Cerebral Tricarboxylic Acid Cycles

We review the operation of the cerebral tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycles in the neuronal and glial compartments of the adult rat brain, with an emphasis on the mechanisms underlying intercellular oxidative coupling during glutamatergic neurotransmission. We begin with an update of the enzymatic properties, gene location, regulation, and regional distribution of the enzymes involved. Then, we describe the main methodologies used to investigate TCA cycle activity in vitro and in vivo such as autoradiography, positron emission tomography (PET), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging or spectroscopy, and dual photon fluorescence microscopy. Previous interpretations conceived cerebral glucose metabolism during glutamatergic neurotransmission as a coupled process, involving exclusively anaerobic metabolism in the astrocytes and oxidative metabolism in the neurons. The glutamine cycle was proposed to be stoichiometrically coupled to astrocytic glucose uptake, glutamine synthesis being supported by astrocytic glycolysis only and glutamine being the main precursor of cerebral glutamate. Compelling evidences have accumulated since then, showing that astrocytes display significant oxidative capacity in vivo, more than 60% of the glutamine is produced from ATP synthesized by astroglial oxidative phosphorylation, and approximately 40% of cerebral glutamate is not derived from glutamine. Together, these findings suggest that the coupling mechanisms between astrocytic and neuronal oxidative and nonoxidative metabolisms are more complex than initially envisioned. In this review, we propose a novel mechanism based on the operation of intracellular redox switches and the transcellular coupling of the NAD(P)/NAD (P)H redox states between both cell types through lactate transfers. The redox switch/redox coupling hypothesis is compatible with the simultaneous operation of glycolytic and oxidative metabolisms in both neural cell types. Transcellular redox coupling through lactate transfers mimics the intracellular coupling existing between cytosolic NADH production and mitochondrial NADH oxidation, as seen from the redox shuttles exchanging reducing equivalents through the inner mitochondrial membrane of neural cells.This work was supported in part by grants SAF 2001‐224, SAF 2004‐03197, FISss C03/08, G03/155, C03/10 and PI051530 to S.C. JUSTESA IMAGEN S.A. provided the core support of LISMAR during this work. T.B. R was supported by a fellowship from Fundaçâo para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal (SFRH/BD/5407/2001).Peer reviewe

Computational efficiency of meshfree methods with local-coordinates algorithm

In this study, meshfree methods with uniform nodal distribution and local-coordinates shape functions are investigated. The proposed meshfree method can be used with various shape functions and is tested on a test patch with a Laplace governing equation and both essential and Neumann boundary conditions. It is shown to reduce the computational time dependency on the number of nodes by 36%. This reduction of dependency is significant as it reduces the computational time by several orders for analysis of problems requiring very fine nodal distribution. The meshfree method with uniform nodal distribution and local coordinates shape function reduces and converges to the perfectly uniform nodal distribution with finer nodal distributions. The technique is illustrated on a rectangular Kirchhoff-Love plate to show the practical use of the technique for allowing higher order shape function and finer nodal distribution to be used with multiple overlapping boundary conditions as well as on an electromagnetic problem to explain the uses of this technique on solving multiple similar problem cases with slight changes in geometry of boundary nodes. Overall, the present methodology provides a simple way to increase the computational efficiency of meshfree methods in range of an order while retaining many of its benefits. © 2015, Korean Society for Precision Engineering and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelbergclose0