Evaluation of two-way interactive television for community college instruction: development of an instrument and assessment of student attitudes

This dissertation is organized in three sections. The first section includes a review of the literature related to distance education covering (1) the history and definition of distance education, (2) a review of evaluation instruments used to assess student perceptions and attitudes, and (3) a summary of research findings in five areas of distance education: student motivation, student persistence, student achievement, student satisfaction, and comparisons of students in distance and traditional education settings. The focus of the literature review is on distance education using telecommunications technologies;Second, an article describing the development of an evaluation instrument for use in an interactive television instructional environment is presented. The instrument was developed for the Iowa Distance Education Alliance as part of the Iowa Star Schools project. The article describes the process of developing the instrument and defines five constructs important in evaluating an interactive television system. The five factors are instruction, technical aspects, membership, course management, and satisfaction. On the basis of factor and reliability analyses, the article concludes that the instrument is a useful tool for measuring student attitudes in interactive television courses;Third, another article describes the results of an evaluation of community college instruction over the Iowa Communications Network (ICN), Iowa\u27s two-way full motion interactive fiber optic network. The article looks at the relationship between student satisfaction and classroom interaction, age, gender, previous student experience with distance education, location at a remote or origination site, and number of sites connected. The article concludes that students appear satisfied with their distance learning experience, although remote students appear less satisfied than their origination site counterparts. There were some differences between male and female students and between students of different age groups. No differences were found based on previous student experience in distance education or on number of sites connected;Even though they were satisfied, students still felt technical problems interfered, materials were not delivered promptly, information on distance classes was not readily available, discipline problems occurred in sites without a teacher present, and the level of interaction was inhibited. Recommendations for improvement are provided and instruments are included

Stickstoffausnutzungseffizienz von 15N-markierter Schafsgülle und 15N-markiertem Mineraldünger in biologisch und konventionell bewirtschafteten Anbausystemen

Nitrogen (N) utilisation by crops has to be improved to minimize losses to the environment. We investigated N use efficiency of animal manure and mineral fertiliser and fate of fertiliser N not taken up by crops in a bio-organic (BIOORG) and a conventional (CONMIN) cropping system of a long-term experiment over three vegetation periods (wheat-soybean-maize). Microplots received a single application of 15N-labelled slurries or mineral fertiliser. At the end of each vegetation period we tested whether higher microbial activity and biomass in BIOORG than CONMIN soils and lower long-term N input level in BIOORG affected use efficiency and fate of fertiliser N not taken up by crops. In total 41%, 15% and 50% of 15N applied as urine, faeces and mineral fertiliser was recovered by the three crops. 15N recovered from originally applied urine, faeces and mineral fertiliser in the topsoil at the end of the third vegetation period was 19%, 25% and 20%, respectively. Of urine-, faeces- and mineral fertiliser-15N 40%, 61% and 29% was not recovered by the three crops and in topsoil suggesting significant transport of 15N-labelled components to deeper soil layers. BIOORG and CONMIN differed neither in fertiliser N use efficiency by crops nor in 15N recovery in soil indicating insignificant differences in turnover and utilization of applied manure N in the bio-organic and conventional cropping system

The effects of acute experimental hip muscle pain on dynamic single-limb balance performance in healthy middle-aged adults

Middle-aged adults with painful hip conditions show balance impairments that are consistent with an increased risk of falls. Pathological changes at the hip, accompanied by pain, may accelerate pre-existing age-related balance deficits present in midlife. To consider the influence of pain alone, we investigated the effects of acute experimental hip muscle pain on dynamic single-limb balance in middle-aged adults. Thirty-four healthy adults aged 40–60 years formed two groups (Group-1: n\ua0=\ua016; Group-2: n\ua0=\ua018). Participants performed four tasks: Reactive Sideways Stepping (ReactSide); Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT); Step Test; Single-Limb Squat; before and after an injection of hypertonic saline into the right gluteus medius muscle (Group-1) or ∼5\ua0min rest (Group-2). Balance measures included the range and standard deviation of centre of pressure (CoP) movement in mediolateral and anterior-posterior directions, and CoP total path velocity (ReactSide, Squat); reach distance (SEBT); and number of completed steps (Step Test). Data were assessed using three-way analysis of variance. Motor outcomes were altered during the second repetition of tasks irrespective of exposure to experimental hip muscle pain or rest, with reduced SEBT anterior reach (−1.2\ua0±\ua04.1\ua0cm, P\ua0=\ua00.027); greater step number during Step Test (1.5\ua0±\ua01.7 steps, P\ua

The Physical Conditions and Dynamics of the Interstellar Medium in the Nucleus of M83: Observations of CO and CI

This paper presents CI, CO J=4-3, and CO J=3-2 maps of the barred spiral galaxy M83 taken at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. Observations indicate a double peaked structure which is consistent with gas inflow along the bar collecting at the inner Lindblad resonance. This structure suggests that nuclear starbursts can occur even in galaxies where this inflow/collection occurs, in contrast to previous studies of barred spiral galaxies. However, the observations also suggest that the double peaked emission may be the result of a rotating molecular ring oriented nearly perpendicular to the main disk of the galaxy. The CO J=4-3 data indicate the presence of warm gas in the nucleus that is not apparent in the lower-J CO observations, which suggests that CO J=1-0 emission may not be a reliable tracer of molecular gas in starburst galaxies. The twelve CI/CO J=4-3 line ratios in the inner 24'' x 24'' are uniform at the 2 sigma level, which indicates that the CO J=4-3 emission is originating in the same hot photon-dominated regions as the CI emission. The CO J=4-3/J=3-2 line ratios vary significantly within the nucleus with the higher line ratios occurring away from peaks of emission along an arc of active star forming regions. These high line ratios (>1) likely indicate optically thin gas created by the high temperatures caused by star forming regions in the nucleus of this starburst galaxy.Comment: 15 pages with 10 figures. To appear in the August 10 1998 issue of The Astrophysical Journa