Structural Design Guidelines for Pervious Concrete Pavements

Pervious pavements have gained popularity in recent years as the transportation industry focuses on sustainability and environmental impact. This research investigated the structural design of pervious concrete pavements. There is no standard design method; therefore, the goal was to lessen ambiguity surrounding the use of pervious concrete for pavement structures. By characterization of the rigid pavement design equation from the 1993 AASHTO Structural Design Guide for Design of Pavement Structures through laboratory exploration and review of existing literature, a guide was created to assist engineers in the design of pervious concrete pavements

The Silk Road: 6th Grade PBL Project

The Silk Road 6th Grade PBL Project: The Silk Road was pivotal in the spread and movement of people, ideas, goods and cultures. The culminating project of the study of China and the Silk Road is an opportunity for 6th grade social studies students to dig deep into their personal interests within the period and to better understand the Silk Road in the broader historical context. Students will conduct research and then bring together information and analysis in a project that is presented in science fair style. Possible topics and projects include: Making a 2D or 3D replica of the Silk Road to highlight the movement of people and exchange of goods over time as well as the impending dangers and geographic obstacles encountered. Researching the travels of Marco Polo and presenting findings through a short story, video, poem, or diary entries. Researching the spread of Buddhism, how the Silk Road played a role in its diffusion, and the lasting legacy of the religion. Students could choose to present a speech from the viewpoint of an important historical figure, a short story, graphic novel, or video. Researching modern day migration in China and comparing the movement along the Silk Road to the migration that occurs in China today. Students analyze reasons for migration and the impact of migration. Find similarities and differences between the movements. For this option, students would have the opportunity to interview Chinese-American students and then present their findings through a poster, diary entries, blog entries or a photo journal. April’s 6th grade students will view videos made by made by Kate McKinnon’s High School Service Learning Team. They will also have the opportunity to meet with the students and interview them, deepening their understanding of the culture and topics

African American Female Principals of Urban High Schools and Their Negotiation of Work and Family Conflicts

Women account for approximately 60 percent of all high school teachers, but account for barely 30 percent of the principals of these schools. When the data is disaggregated to only examine African American women in education, the disproportion widens between women and men in leadership. As the demographics of the population in the United States change, there is expanding need for more culturally, ethnically, racially diverse leaders in the public schools. African American women because of their experiences often model transformational leadership with oppression regarding their race and gender. Such leadership is beneficial to minority students, who now make up more than half of the student population attending public schools. To recruit more women of color, organizations must provide support systems to help minimize the challenges that African American women might encounter in their leadership roles; one challenge is finding a balance in home and work. In this study, the researcher identified support systems and strategies that benefit African American women who are principals in urban schools as they balance home and work. The narratives of six, African American mothers who were principals of urban high schools were used to develop a case study of how societal expectations and stereotypes affect their navigation of work and family conflict. In addition to narratives, document analysis and observations were used to develop and identify support systems and strategies that have allowomen in leadership positions to maintain a balance between work and life. Additionally, in this study, the researcher identified the challenges and barriers that exist in society and the field of education that have prevented women, especially African American women, from achieving leadership positions in education while maintaining a healthy work and family balance

Aging of the Lumbar Vertebrae Using Known Age and Sex Samples

The dimensions of the lumbar vertebrae are examined in order to determine if these measurements can be used to predict the age of an individual, and if the lumbar vertebrae exhibit sexual dimorphism. Various statistical techniques were utilized to analyze several dimensions of the lumbar vertebrae. Aging patterns in the lumbar elements are distinct between males and females, and females exhibit compression of the L3 element, which may be related to vertebral wedging. Some dimensions of the lumbar vertebrae are sexually dimorphic

Leadership in Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs and the School to Prison Pipeline

Current research about the school to prison pipeline has focused on the impact of zero-tolerance policies in public education on historically marginalized student populations, especially school exclusionary practices of minority and learning-disabled students. This transcendental phenomenological study extended the understanding of disciplinary alternative education programs’ place in the school to prison pipeline trajectory. According to critical race and social justice leadership theories, the investigation and exposure of the public education components leading students into the school to prison pipeline are violations of student civil rights that require scrutiny and actionable public education reform focused on equity and inclusion.The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the experiences and perspectives of five teachers and six leaders in Colorado who have served students placed in disciplinary alternative education programs to provide suggestions for improvements that will address the school to prison pipeline. Study findings reaffirmed previous research about subjective discipline referrals as the catalyst to the school to prison pipeline yet indicated that disciplinary alternative education programs currently act as expulsion education opportunities in response to the school to prison pipeline data. Consequently, public education district leadership needs to create and implement progress monitoring for bias and discrimination in their discipline matrices and referral processes, as well as provide effective staff training around multitiered support systems for the intervention of high-risk students’ needs and behaviors, culturally responsive instructional practice, and restorative justice in exchange for punitive discipline

Evolution of Reproduction and Stress Tolerance in Brachionid Rotifers

Stress can be a driving force for new evolutionary changes leading to local adaptation, or may be responded to with pre-existing, ancestral tolerance mechanisms. Using brachionid rotifers (microzooplankton) as a study system, I demonstrate roles of both conserved physiological mechanisms (heat shock protein induction) and rapid evolution of traits in response to ecologically relevant stressors such as temperature and hydroperiod. Rapid evolution of higher levels of sex and dormancy in cultures mimicking temporary waters represents an eco-evolutionary dynamic, with trait evolution feeding back into effects on ecology (i.e., reduced population growth). I also reveal that prolonged culture in a benign laboratory environment leads to evolution of increased lifespan and fecundity, perhaps due to reduction of extrinsic mortality factors. Potential mechanisms (e.g., hormonal signals) are suggested that may control evolvability of facets of the stress response. Due to prior studies suggesting a role of progesterone signaling in rotifer sex and dormancy, the membrane associated progesterone receptor is assayed as a candidate gene that could show positive selection indicating rapid divergence. Despite some sequence variation that may contribute to functional differences among species, results indicate this hormone receptor is under purifying selection. Detailed analyses of multiple stress responses and their evolution as performed here will be imperative to understanding current patterns of local adaptation and trait-environment correlations. Such research also is key to predicting persistence of species upon introduction to novel habitats and exposure to new stressors (e.g., warming due to climate change). Perhaps one of the most intriguing results of this dissertation is the rapid, adaptive change in levels of sex and dormancy in a metazoan through new mutations or re-arrangements of the genetic material. This suggests species may be able to rapidly evolve tolerance of new stressors, even if standing genetic variation does not currently encompass the suite of alleles necessary for survival.Ph.D

COVID-19 and Opioid Use in Appalachian Kentucky: Challenges and Silver Linings

Appalachian Kentucky is currently fighting two public health emergencies – COVID-19 and the opioid epidemic – leaving the area strapped for resources to care for these ongoing crises. During this time, people who use opioids (PWUO) have increased vulnerability to fatal overdoses and drug-related harms (e.g., HIV). Disruption of already limited services posed by COVID-19 could have an especially detrimental impact on the health of PWUO. Though the COVID-19 pandemic is jeopardizing hard-won progress in fighting the opioid epidemic, innovations in state policy and service delivery brought about by the pandemic may improve the health of PWUO long-term if they are retained

Differences in Prenatal Tobacco Exposure Patterns among 13 Race/Ethnic Groups in California.

Prenatal tobacco exposure is a significant, preventable cause of childhood morbidity, yet little is known about exposure risks for many race/ethnic subpopulations. We studied active smoking and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure in a population-based cohort of 13 racially/ethnically diverse pregnant women: white, African American, Hispanic, Native American, including nine Asian/Pacific Islander subgroups: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Laotian, Samoan, and Asian Indians (N = 3329). Using the major nicotine metabolite, cotinine, as an objective biomarker, we analyzed mid-pregnancy serum from prenatal screening banked in 1999⁻2002 from Southern California in an effort to understand differences in tobacco exposure patterns by race/ethnicity, as well as provide a baseline for future work to assess secular changes and longer-term health outcomes. Prevalence of active smoking (based on age- and race-specific cotinine cutpoints) was highest among African American, Samoan, Native Americans and whites (6.8⁻14.1%); and lowest among Filipinos, Chinese, Vietnamese and Asian Indians (0.3⁻1.0%). ETS exposure among non-smokers was highest among African Americans and Samoans, followed by Cambodians, Native Americans, Vietnamese and Koreans, and lowest among Filipinos, Japanese, whites, and Chinese. At least 75% of women had detectable cotinine. While for most groups, levels of active smoking corresponded with levels of ETS, divergent patterns were also found. For example, smoking prevalence among white women was among the highest, but the group's ETS exposure was low among non-smokers; while Vietnamese women were unlikely to be active smokers, they experienced relatively high ETS exposure. Knowledge of race/ethnic differences may be useful in assessing disparities in health outcomes and creating successful tobacco interventions

Re-thinking Personal Narrative in the Pedagogy of Writing Teacher Preparation

How can teacher educators mobilize contemporary understandings of personal narrative -- as socially and dialogically shaped in the context of culture and as instrumental to sociocultural processes of self-authoring -- in the teaching of narrative writing and, more specifically, in the work of teaching teachers to teach narrative writing? Rarely do teachers teach strategies that might result in good narratives. Rarely do narrative texts written in school (or any other kinds of texts written in school, for that matter) actually go anywhere beyond the teacher, thus failing to offer students experience in negotiating meanings with readers, working out the versions of self in context that narrative writing can foster. Teaching personal narrative well, in ways that are consistent with a social and dialogic view of personal narrative’s value and the identity work it can support, has proven challenging. This essay describes and reflects on one effort to do so in a teacher education setting. We introduce the example of a class-to-class partnership between teacher candidates and first-year college writers not as a success story or an exemplar, but rather as a problematic case to stimulate conversation about the challenges of narrative writing teacher preparation