SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: THE INTERSECTION OF FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATOR ROLES AMONG COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY DEPARTMENT CHAIRS

Community colleges face significant challenges in the 21st century due largely to the effects of neoliberalism. Shifts in governance structures and an emphasis towards productivity and accountability have put a strain on institutional relationships, particularly between the faculty and the administration. Much attention has been given to how this relationship could be restored through direct means; however, another institutional stakeholder group has largely been overlooked in terms of a resource that could help bridge the faculty and administration. The community college faculty department chair is uniquely situated between the faculty and administration within these institutions, yet little is known about how they navigate their role in support of a more cohesive organizational culture and healthier relationships. Five community college faculty department chairs at a small, rural community college in Northeast Texas were the focus of this multiple case study in order to better understand how they engaged in the role navigation process, balanced and acted upon role expectations sent to them, and leveraged connections between the faculty and the administration. The findings of this study demonstrated that the participants relied heavily on their identity as faculty, primarily, but also as administrator in serving as a conduit between the faculty and administration. More specifically, the participants leveraged the management and mediation of communication, reduced ambiguity, and mitigated tension in building connections between the faculty and administration. Implications for practice and scholarship, as well as directions for future research are discussed. Adviser: Dr. Deryl K. Hatch-Tocaimaz

Running Economy while Running in Extreme Cushioning and Normal Cushioning Running Shoes

The purpose of the study was to determine if running economy was influenced by wearing maximal cushioning shoes vs. control (neutral cushioning) shoes. (Please see Abstract in text

The spatial distribution of parking policy and usage: A case study of Melbourne, Australia

Few cities have a Metropolitan wide parking policy. More often than not the planning of parking is undertaken by decentralised urban local governments with broad central guideline on parking supply rates. The provision of parking is thus generally opportunistic, aimed at facilitating and encouraging the decentralisation of travel and urban development. This paper documents the spatial distribution of policy and demand for parking in Melbourne, Australia, in order to obtain an indication of the spatial variations in parking policy and usage. It briefly reviews parking policy literature. It then reviews the spatial pattern of existing parking policy in Melbourne showing the increase in quality with distance from the central city. Parking usage is then studied, again showing a tendency towards greater parking activity as one moves away from the city centre and the relationship to activity levels in suburban areas. The paper reinforces the view that the focus on central city parking policy and the lack of a co-ordinated parking policy for outer suburbs encourages travel and urban development in outer suburbs. The paper calls for further research in other cities to confirm these trends

Pump linewidth requirement for optical parametric oscillators

Pumping laser bandwidth requirement for optical parametric oscillator

Intensive Cultural Resources Survey For Portions Of The Proposed 17-Mile El Paso Natural Gas Mainline Expansion Project On Public Lands In El Paso And Hudspeth Counties, Texas

On behalf of El Paso Natural Gas Company, LLC (EPNG), SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) conducted an intensive cultural resources survey on a portion of the proposed 17.0-mile-long (27.4- kilometer [km]) EPNG Mainline Expansion Project (Project) that crosses public lands administered by the Texas General Land Office (GLO) and the Clint Independent School District (CISD) in El Paso and Hudspeth Counties, Texas. Investigations were conducted in support of EPNG’s filing of a standard 7c application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The 17-mile proposed project is one component of a larger project that includes construction in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Project activities would occur at three distinct locations along the EPNG’s existing South Mainline system including construction and operation of a new 17-mile-long loop line and construction and operation of two new compressor stations. In Texas, the proposed project consists of the construction of an approximate 17-mile, 30-inch outside diameter loop line extension in El Paso and Hudspeth Counties, Texas. This report addresses only the portions of the 17-mile loop extension on Texas public lands. The public lands component of the project includes 1.85 miles of 300-foot-wide corridor (67.3 acres) on three GLO properties (i.e., parcels 0003.000.00.00-HU-TX, 0004.000.00.00-HU-TX, and 0125.000.00.00-EP-TX) and 0.15 mile of 300-foot-wide corridor (5.5 acres) on one CISD property (parcel 0064.000.00.00-EP-TX). Cultural resources investigations were conducted on the public lands to comply with the Antiquities Code of Texas, as the agencies administering those lands are political subdivisions of the State of Texas. Additionally, as the project is subject to FERC review and the project may cross waters of the U.S. under jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, work was performed in support of EPNG’s compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S.C. 306108) and its implementing regulations (36 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] 800). Impacts associated with the construction of the pipeline will occur within a variable width construction right-of-way (ROW) measuring 60 feet wide in residential areas and 180 feet wide in dunal areas, but averaging 90 feet wide. For the 2.0 miles of cultural resources survey on public lands, SWCA investigated a 300-foot-wide corridor to give EPNG options for the ultimate centerline placement. The anticipated typical depth of construction impacts is approximately 6 feet below ground surface, although, in dunal areas, the depth of impacts will be approximately 9 feet; however, subsurface impacts are anticipated to extend up to 12 feet below ground surface via subsurface bores to avoid impacts to areas with existing infrastructure and drainages. The project area of potential effects (APE) on public lands consists of approximately 10,500 feet (2.0 miles) of 300-foot-wide survey corridor encompassing 72.7 acres, which includes 7.3 acres of permanent 30-foot-wide ROW and 12.1 acres of construction corridor. Included within the 300-foot-wide survey corridor are proposed access roads for the project that consist of existing 15- to 25-foot-wide gravel access roads for several previously constructed pipelines that parallel the current APE. Investigations included a cultural resources background review and literature search of the APE and an intensive pedestrian survey of the APE augmented with shovel testing. SWCA’s background review indicated that 11 previous cultural resources surveys have been conducted within a 1-mile radius of the APE. Seven of the 11 previously surveyed project areas intersect the APE or are adjacent to (within 300 feet of) the APE; the remainder of the previous survey areas are within the 1-mile buffer, but due to their distance to the APE, will not be traversed by the planned construction. None of the seven previous cultural surveys intersect or are adjacent to the four public land parcels discussed in this report. The review also indicates that 40 previously recorded archaeological sites are within a 1-mile buffer of the APE; however, only four sites (i.e., 41EP868, 41EP4768, 41EP5490, and 41HZ234) appear to be intersected by, or within 300 feet of, the APE. None of these four sites are located within any of the public lands. The closest previous site to a public land parcel is 41HZ234, which is located just within the northern boundary of the 300-foot-wide survey corridor but is several hundred feet outside the northern boundary of parcel 0004.000.00.00-HU-TX on private property. Because of the current survey effort, SWCA recorded one new archaeological site (41HZ803). Owing to the paucity or commonality of recovered assemblages, lack of features, lack of unique character, and/or lack of contextual integrity, this resource possesses negligible research value and is unlikely to contribute new or important information regarding local and/or regional prehistory. Consequently, no further work is recommended for 41HZ803

Exploring Predictors of Sense of Belonging in Trinidad and Tobago

Over the past two decades, Trinidad and Tobago has promoted explosive expansion of tertiary education. As with many growing postsecondary education systems, this increase in tertiary enrollment has led to the development of student support services (Haddad & Altbach, 2009). The field of student services is growing throughout the Caribbean (Reynolds, 2008), but there is currently little research on the role of student services in fostering students’ sense of belonging specific to the Caribbean cultural context. Using data from over 900 students at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, we examined students’ sense of belonging in the context of T&T. Findings point to the key role that student services professionals play in promoting students’ sense of belonging, but the limited interactions that students are having with student services staff and key differences by students’ race, religion, program level, and major should be noted. We also identified the indirect role of cocurricular engagement in promoting sense of belonging and the main barriers that prevent students from participating in more cocurricular activities. These findings have important implications for the work of student services professionals in T&T and also expand our understanding of constructs, such as student engagement and sense of belonging, ideas that have been well-researched in the US to a very different tertiary education system

Improving the care of people with dementia in general hospitals: evaluation of a whole-system train the trainer model

Background: There are concerns about the quality of care that people with dementia receive in the general hospital. Staff report a lack of confidence and inadequate training in dementia care. Methods: A train-the-trainer model was implemented across eight acute hospital trusts in London via a large academic health and science network. Impact was evaluated using mixed methods. Data was collected at (a) Individual level: ‘Sense of Competence in Dementia Care’ (SCID) (b) Ward level: Person Interaction and Environment (PIE) observations (c) Organisation level: use of specific tools i.e. “This Is Me”, (d) Systems level: numbers and types of staff trained per trust. Results were analysed with descriptive statistics and paired t-test with thematic framework analysis for PIE observations. Results: Number of staff trained per trust ranged from 67 to 650 (total 2,020). 1,688 (85%) baseline questionnaires and 456 (27%) 3 month follow-up questionnaires were completed. Mean SCID score was 43.2 at baseline and 50.7 at follow-up (paired t-test, p<0.001). All sub-scales showed a small increase in competence, the largest being for ‘building relationships’. Organisational level data suggested increased use of carer’s passport, “This Is Me” documentation, dementia information leaflets, delirium screening scales and pathways. PIE observations demonstrated improved staff-patient interactions but little change in hospital environments. Conclusions: There was a significant improvement in staffs’ sense of competence in dementia care and the quality of interactions with patients. More hospitals adopted person centred tools and pathways. Work is required to investigate if these changes improve hospital outcomes for people with dementia

Possibilities for LWIR detectors using MBE-grown Si(/Si(1-x)Ge(x) structures

Traditionally, long wavelength infrared (LWIR) detection in Si-based structures has involved either extrinsic Si or Si/metal Schottky barrier devices. Molecular beam epitaxially (MBE) grown Si and Si/Si(1-x)Ge(x) heterostructures offer new possibilities for LWIR detection, including sensors based on intersubband transitions as well as improved conventional devices. The improvement in doping profile control of MBE in comparison with conventional chemical vapor deposited (CVD) Si films has resulted in the successful growth of extrinsic Si:Ga, blocked impurity-band conduction detectors. These structures exhibit a highly abrupt step change in dopant profile between detecting and blocking layers which is extremely difficult or impossible to achieve through conventional epitaxial growth techniques. Through alloying Si with Ge, Schottky barrier infrared detectors are possible, with barrier height values between those involving pure Si or Ge semiconducting materials alone. For both n-type and p-type structures, strain effects can split the band edges, thereby splitting the Schottky threshold and altering the spectral response. Measurements of photoresponse of n-type Au/Si(1-x)Ge(x) Schottky barriers demonstrate this effect. For intersubband multiquntum well (MQW) LWIR detection, Si(1-x)Ge(x)/Si detectors grown on Si substrates promise comparable absorption coefficients to that of the Ga(Al)As system while in addition offering the fundamental advantage of response to normally incident light as well as the practical advantage of Si-compatibility. Researchers grew Si(1-x)Ge(x)/Si MQW structures aimed at sensitivity to IR in the 8 to 12 micron region and longer, guided by recent theoretical work. Preliminary measurements of n- and p-type Si(1-x)Ge(x)/Si MQW structures are given