Meaning and Purpose in Adolescent Education: How Educators Can Help Adolescents Develop Purpose and Use It To Maximize Meaningfulness in Their Lives

This capstone project serves as the culmination of my inquiry throughout the Critical and Creative Thinking (CCT) program, a graduate program at the University of Massachusetts Boston. It focuses in the area of adolescent education, relying primarily on relevant research and personal narrative reflection. The more pedagogical lines of inquiry draw from my experience as a school administrator in addition to my work in the CCT program. The central thesis is that an ideal aim of adolescent education is to help students develop and articulate a clear statement of purpose. That by doing so, students may leverage the powerful intrinsic motivation that is characteristic of purpose and use it to maximize the chances that their learning experiences bring them closer to a state of meaningfulness, defined in this paper as a deep sense of personal wholeness and fulfillment, similar to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow. The paper’s audience is adolescent educators - teachers, administrators, school leaders - who seek to make more immersive, effective, and holistic learning experiences for students. The paper is subdivided into two parts and a significant set of appendices. Part I: Adolescent Education And Meaningfulness examines three main concepts and articulates the relationships between them; meaningfulness, purpose, and adolescence. The concept of adolescence is presented in two subdivided sections; neurological and psychological perspectives. Part II: Envisioning The School Guided By Meaningfulness provides a closer look at adolescent education in practice and posits some pedagogical applications of the concepts advanced in Part I. Appendices A-E includes five example lesson plans taken from a more comprehensive curriculum that teaches reflection skills and is influenced by the concept of meaningfulness. Keywords: meaningfulness, purpose, adolescence

Wind tunnel balance

A flow-through balance is provided which includes a non-metric portion and a metric portion which form a fluid-conducting passage in fluid communication with an internal bore in the sting. The non-metric and metric portions of the balance are integrally connected together by a plurality of flexure beams such that the non-metric portion, the metric portion and the flexure beams form a one-piece construction which eliminates mechanical hysteresis between the non-metric and the metric portion. The system includes structures for preventing the effects of temperature, pressure and pressurized fluid from producing asymmetric loads on the flexure beams. A temperature sensor and a pressure sensor are located within the fluid-conducting passage of the balance. The system includes a longitudinal bellows member connected at two ends to one of the non-metric portion and the metric portion and at an intermediate portion thereof to the other of (1) and (2). A plurality of strain gages are mounted on the flexure beams to measure strain forces on the flexure beams. The flexure beams are disposed so as to enable symmetric forces on the flexure beams to cancel out so that only asymmetric forces are measured as deviations by the strain gages

Exploring the mechanisms of allelopathic interaction in the invasive annual plant, Phyllanthus urinaria

The belowground mechanisms facilitating invasion and proliferation of non-native plant species into natural communities are of critical importance for understanding plant invasions. Research on allelopathy suggests that some exotic plant species produce compounds via root exudates that may suppress or inhibit the growth of neighboring plants, but the specific mechanisms and consequences of these plant-chemical interactions remain elusive. In an effort to understand the abiotic and biotic factors governing allelopathic activity, a two-part greenhouse experiment was designed to examine plant-soil interactions of the invasive euphorb, Phyllanthus urinaria, and the residual soil effects of these interactions on subsequent growth of a target species, Brassica rapa. Our results confirmed that plant-soil feedback from Phyllanthus negatively influenced growth of Brassica and the effect was proportional to the Phyllanthus biomass. However, it is unclear whether the mechanism responsible for this negative effect is associated with chemical suppression (i.e., allelopathy) or with depletion of soil nutrients (i.e., competition). In addition to screening for phyto-toxic compounds, soil analysis of macro- and micro- nutrient levels may be necessary to differentiate between plant strategies that create chemical interference vs. those that influence resource availability. Description and definition of these plant mechanisms may provide useful insight into understanding the factors that enable alien species to invade and successfully coexist in natural communities

Leveraging Sport Mega-Events: New Model or Convenient Justification?

A range of recent studies have shown that the social and economic impacts of mega-events are often disappointing. This has stimulated interest in the notion of leveraging; an approach which views mega-events as a resource which can be levered to achieve outcomes which would not have happened automatically by staging an event. This paper aims to advance understanding about leveraging – by exploring the rationale for this approach and by identifying different types of leveraging and their relative merits. The work critically explores whether mega-event leveraging represents a new approach or whether it simply provides a convenient justification for expensive and controversial mega-event projects. The paper aims to enhance conceptual understanding, rather than to explore a specific case empirically; but a series of examples are used for illustrative purposes. These are drawn from projects adopted in association with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Scoring Model Predictions using Cross-Validation

We formalize a framework for quantitatively assessing agreement between two datasets that are assumed to come from two distinct data generating mechanisms. We propose a methodology for prediction scoring which provides a measure of the distance between two unobserved data generating mechanisms (DGMs), along the dimension of a particular model. The cross-validated scores can be used to evaluate preregistered hypotheses and to perform model validation in the face of complex statistical models. Using human behavior data from the Next Generation Social Science (NGS2) program, we demonstrate that prediction scores can be used as model assessment tools and that they can reveal insights based on data collected from different populations and across different settings. Our proposed cross-validated prediction scores are capable of quantifying true differences between data generating mechanisms, allow for the validation and assessment of complex models, and serve as valuable tools for reproducible research

Retrograde transport pathways utilised by viruses and protein toxins

A model has been presented for retrograde transport of certain toxins and viruses from the cell surface to the ER that suggests an obligatory interaction with a glycolipid receptor at the cell surface. Here we review studies on the ER trafficking cholera toxin, Shiga and Shiga-like toxins, Pseudomonas exotoxin A and ricin, and compare the retrograde routes followed by these protein toxins to those of the ER trafficking SV40 and polyoma viruses. We conclude that there is in fact no obligatory requirement for a glycolipid receptor, nor even with a protein receptor in a lipid-rich environment. Emerging data suggests instead that there is no common pathway utilised for retrograde transport by all of these pathogens, the choice of route being determined by the particular receptor utilised

Influence of Ionizing Radiation on the Mechanical Properties of a Wood-Plastic Composite

AbstractThe focus of this study was to examine the potential benefits of irradiating polyethylene (PE)-based wood-plastic composites (WPCs) in order to enhance the mechanical properties of the WPC. The PE-based WPCs were irradiated, post extrusion, at dose levels of 0, 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 kGy with an electron beam (EB). The irradiated WPCs were then evaluated using a third point bending test (ASTM D4761) along with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that ultimate strength and modulus of elasticity (MOE) increased with increasing dose level. Examination of the fracture surfaces of polyethylene revealed a distinct difference in failure between irradiated and non-irradiated surfaces

Effect of Latitude Bias in Entry Angle on Ground Casualty Risk from Naturally Decaying Space Objects

An improvement to the long-term estimation of ground casualties from naturally decaying space objects is the refinement to the distribution of entry angle at the entry interface as a function of latitude. Previous analyses were based on an assumed "small angle," typically -0.1, and entry interface at the equator. This study expands on work by Bacon and Matney that indicated there is significant latitude bias in the location of reentries, compared to prior assumptions of equal temporal probability. A new model has been developed, which describes the distribution of entry angle as a function of orbital inclination and argument of latitude. This model has been used to generate inputs for ODPOs certified reentry survivability software, Object Reentry Survival Analysis Tool (ORSAT). These new results are compared with the prior standard model to assess the magnitude of the effects on reentry casualty risk