Convocation 2008 Address by Alumna Liza Talusan

Alumna Liza Talusan relates that one of the most important lessons she learned about the Connecticut College community didn’t happen in the classrooms, nor while she was a housefellow or hanging out at Unity House, but happened long after she graduated, years after she married her Connecticut College sweetheart, and even after they had their first child

An Art Program Evaluation of Daily Life Therapy for Children with Autism

The author evaluated a private school’s art program in 2009-2010 that used Daily Life Therapy (DLT) for students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Significant increases in numbers of persons diagnosed with ASD have been noted in the last two decades. Several methodologies claim success in programming for children with ASD, but lack empirically based research and it is unclear which are most beneficial. This program evaluation used a mixed-method design to address the following questions: (1) is there evidence of success with the art experience goals and objectives in the art products, (2) what is the experience of the art education staff facilitating this technique, and (3) is there evidence overall that the art program meets its stated goals? The study focused on 26 culturally diverse students diagnosed with ASD, ranging between the ages of 8-14 years (27% female, 73% male). The study focused on two analyses; (1) analysis of six art products per child at three times of the year were rated specifically for art lessons’ goals and objectives, by two independent raters, and (2) analysis of interview data where teachers were questioned about the DLT method in art instruction. Data revealed: participants performed significantly (draw, p \u3c .01 and color, p \u3c.001) better at midyear than in the fall or early summer; a significant (p \u3c .01) increase of teacher prompts for artworks at midyear was also evident; and results indicated differences between groups defined by Childhood Autism Rating Scale Second Edition (Schopler, Reichler & Rochen-Renner, 2010) score and age, but only for drawing tasks. Analysis of the interview data indicated emphasis placed on the following themes: (1) opportunities through an individualized method (f= 31%), (2) consistency through prompt assistance and active participation (f= 52%) and (3) improvement in relationships and connection to the greater world (f= 16%). The combined results were mixed. While teachers reported and described dedication to the method, quantitative data did not clearly reflect meeting program goals and objectives, and record-keeping issues appeared to be a key factor. The findings showed the necessity for improving programming for students diagnosed on the autism spectrum

(Un)Fulfilling Requirements: Satisfactory Academic Progress and its impact on first-generation, low-income, Asian American students

Over the past few years, our understanding of the diverse identities of Asian American students has increased. Yet, the experiences of Asian American students who identify as coming from low-income backgrounds and as first generation college students has been underrepresented in the literature. In particular, this study explored how Asian American students experienced the financial aid process, including the ways in which the federal Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) policy that establishes eligibility criteria for continued student financial aid impacts their experiences in college. Findings suggest student strategies for navigating a complicated process and institutional strategies for reducing confusion and increasing persistence and institutional responsibility

Solution & Effects of Agricultural Practices

A potential solution of vertical farming PROFITABLE SCALABLE YEAR-ROUNDhttps://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/unsdg_infographics/1008/thumbnail.jp

Development and Evaluation of an Opioid Monitoring Clinic

An APRN-led Opioid Monitoring Clinic was developed and implemented in the primary care setting of Las Vegas\u27 Department of Veterans Affairs in July 2013 to assist primary care providers (PCP) in the management of high risk patients on chronic opioid therapy for chronic noncancer pain. The clinic assisted in monitoring patients for abuse and misuse of opioids and referred patients for treatment when abuse and misuse were discovered. A study to evaluate the OMC was undertaken from November 22, 2013 through February 23, 2014 to assess the effectiveness of the OMC in meeting its objectives. A total of 61 patients and 26 PCPs participated in the study. The OMC was able to identify 26 patients who were abusing and misusing their prescription opioids that resulted in the discontinuation of their opioid therapy and referral for treatment. The study also found improved compliance among PCPs in following recommendations from the VA/DoD clinical practice guideline in the management of chronic pain using opioid therapy. All PCPs who referred patients to the OMC reported overall satisfaction in having the OMC co-manage their patients on chronic opioid therapy

Design and development of a novel acoustic rain sensor with automated telemetry

This paper presents the recent results of the design of a novel acoustic rainfall sensing system that is low-cost, portable, and easily deployable, which makes use of the recorded sound produced by the impact of the raindrops on the sensor surface. The sensor design allows the gathering of acoustic signal power and sending it to a server after a specified time interval, either through SMS or mobile internet connection. It exists in a weather-proof, standard-conformant, standalone system with its own power supply and telemetric capabilities. These acoustic point sensors can gather rainfall data at high spatial and temporal resolutions. Such deployments can show the variations of rainfall intensities in subkilometer areas, particularly in the tropical regions. Since it is low-cost, it can also improve the density of rainfall measuring devices in an area. Moreover, the reliability is improved by providing near-real time data, as opposed to tipping buckets with manual data retrieval. The prototype sensor system was placed next to standard rain measuring devices and observed during the rainy season. The paper will discuss the design and deployment of the system, as well as initial results of data analysis and comparison with standard rain measuring devices

Evaluation of Heat Generation in Unidirectional Versus Oscillatory Modes During K‐Wire Insertion in Bone

Heat generation during insertion of Kirschner wires (K‐wires) may lead to thermal osteonecrosis and can affect the construct fixation. Unidirectional and oscillatory drilling modes are options for K‐wire insertion, but understanding of the difference in heat generation between the two modes is lacking. The goal of this study was to compare the temperature rise during K‐wire insertion under these two modes and provide technical guidelines for K‐wire placement to minimize thermal injury. Ten orthopedic surgeons were instructed to drill holes on hydrated ex vivo bovine bones under two modes. The drilling trials were evaluated in terms of temperature, thrust force, torque, drilling time, and tool wear. The analysis of variance showed that the oscillatory mode generated significantly lowered peak bone temperature rise (13% lower mean value, p = 0.036) over significantly longer drilling time (46% higher mean time, p < 0.001) than the unidirectional mode. Drilling time had significant effect on peak bone temperature rise under both modes (p < 0.001) and impact of peak thrust force was significant under oscillatory mode (p < 0.001). These findings suggest that the drilling mode choice is a compromise between peak temperature and bone exposure time. Shortening the drilling time was the key under both modes to minimize temperature rise and thermal necrosis risk. To achieve faster drilling, technique analysis found that “shaky” and intermittent drilling with moderate thrust force are preferred techniques by small vibration of the drill about the K‐wire axis and slight lift‐up of the K‐wire once or twice during drilling. © 2019 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 37:1903–1909, 2019Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151349/1/jor24345_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151349/2/jor24345.pd

Anomaly based Incident Detection in Large Scale Smart Transportation Systems

Modern smart cities are focusing on smart transportation solutions to detect and mitigate the effects of various traffic incidents in the city. To materialize this, roadside units and ambient trans-portation sensors are being deployed to collect vehicular data that provides real-time traffic monitoring. In this paper, we first propose a real-time data-driven anomaly-based traffic incident detection framework for a city-scale smart transportation system. Specifically, we propose an incremental region growing approximation algorithm for optimal Spatio-temporal clustering of road segments and their data; such that road segments are strategically divided into highly correlated clusters. The highly correlated clusters enable identifying a Pythagorean Mean-based invariant as an anomaly detection metric that is highly stable under no incidents but shows a deviation in the presence of incidents. We learn the bounds of the invariants in a robust manner such that anomaly detection can generalize to unseen events, even when learning from real noisy data. We perform extensive experimental validation using mobility data collected from the City of Nashville, Tennessee, and prove that the method can detect incidents within each cluster in real-time