Twin Teachers: Advancing Understanding Among Secondary and Post-Secondary Composition Instructors Through Individual Connections

This project relates research-based efforts to develop a context-sensitive collaborative plan for instructors of English composition at the high school and college levels, providing a model for professional development and cross-border conversations among writing educators. Adapted from the “twin towns” or “sister cities” arrangements forged between municipalities in different countries with the purpose of strengthening relationships and promoting cultural understanding, this plan targets the cultural differences between high school and college instructors as a step toward incremental improvement implemented by educators themselves. The literature review establishes the cultural divide, describing the divide through discourse and practice, identifies effective practices for collaborative efforts in English composition, and explores the question of writing goals. The author then conducts primary mixed methods research into a specific context via student surveys, instructor surveys, and instructor interviews at two institutions in the Ohio River Valley region. The data from the literature review and gathered site data are used to develop a context-sensitive collaborative plan that would individually pair high school and college English instructors in a region through a sustained series of in-person and electronically mediated meetings, exchanging information on the differences in professional culture between the levels of schooling with the purpose of helping students through informed adaptation of teaching practices

Machine Learning to Predict Advertisement Targeting Solutions

Generally, the present disclosure is directed to using machine learning to predict advertisement targeting solutions. In particular, in some implementations, the systems and methods of the present disclosure can include or otherwise leverage one or more machine-learned models to predict optimal advertisement target solutions such as, for example, keyword word sets, negative word sets, location restrictions, bid adjustments, and/or schedules based on product data such as, for example, advertisement content (e.g., ad creatives text), seed keywords, images of the product, and/or advertiser metadata

Before your eyes.

This thesis acts as an entrance into the dialogue on the nature of love in human life. Literature by its very existence comments on the human condition and should consciously attempt to contribute to the discussion of what it means to be human, what it means to be us. Love is a part of who we are, an often misunderstood, manipulated, critiqued, disdained, and praised aspect of the human condition. Centuries of thinking have yet to explain the genesis of the idea, to conclusively explain or disprove the ideas of justice, hope, love, despite the mountains of scholarship contributed to just those proposed ends. This work is in no way an attempt to propose any universal answers, but for Josh, this one man, this one character, in this one present moment of trauma, this Lacanian interaction with the ‘Real’, I attempt to show what love is to him

Comparing the Effects of Tissue Flossing and Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization on Ankle Dorsiflexion

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the claimed effects of a new technique called Tissue Flossing and compare those effects with Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization, or IASTM. Background: Tissue flossing is a relatively new technique that utilizes a large rubber band that is wrapped around the involved joint. Once applied, range of motion exercises are completed, and the band is removed. The goal is to increase joint range of motion. IASTM involves using a specialized tool to scrape an effected muscle or tendon of the body. The goal is to reduce any adhesions or scar tissue in the muscle and bring blood flow to the area to encourage healing and increase range of motion. Design: The design for this study is a multi-group pre-test post-test study with three groups of participants. there was a significant effect of time. Results: Therefore, for the participants as a whole, ROM significantly improved over time (p value = 0.023). However, there was no significant difference in ROM between groups over the different time periods. Discussion: Conclusions can be made, at the very least, that stretching protocol done at a minimum of two times a week, can increase ankle dorsiflexion. We are unable to determine if IASTM or tissue flossing would be beneficial for increasing flexibility. However, we can draw that it is not detrimental to ankle dorsiflexion

Spatiotemporal video-domain high-fidelity simulation and realistic visualization of full‐field dynamic responses of structures by a combination of high-spatial-resolution modal model and video motion manipulations

Structures with complex geometries, material properties, and boundary conditions exhibit spatially local dynamic behaviors. A high‐spatial‐resolution model of the structure is thus required for high‐fidelity analysis, assessment, and prediction of the dynamic phenomena of the structure. The traditional approach is to build a highly refined finite element computer model for simulating and analyzing the structural dynamic phenomena based on detailed knowledge and explicit modeling of the structural physics such as geometries, materials properties, and boundary conditions. These physics information of the structure may not be available or accurately modeled in many cases, however. In addition, the simulation on the high‐spatial‐resolution structural model, with a massive number of degrees of freedom and system parameters, is computationally demanding. This study, on a proof‐of‐principle basis, proposes a novel alternative approach for spatiotemporal video‐domain high‐fidelity simulation and realistic visualization of full‐field structural dynamics by an innovative combination of the fundamentals of structural dynamic modeling and the advanced video motion manipulation techniques. Specifically, a low‐modal‐dimensional yet high‐spatial (pixel)‐resolution (as many spatial points as the pixel number on the structure in the video frame) modal model is established in the spatiotemporal video domain with full‐field modal parameters first estimated from line‐of‐sight video measurements of the operating structure. Then in order to simulate new dynamic response of the structure subject to a new force, the force is projected onto each modal domain, and the modal response is computed by solving each individual single‐degree‐of‐freedom system in the modal domain. The simulated modal responses are then synthesized by the full‐field mode shapes using modal superposition to obtain the simulated full‐field structural dynamic response. Finally, the simulated structural dynamic response is embedded into the original video, replacing the original motion of the video, thus generating a new photo‐realistic, physically accurate video that enables a realistic, high‐fidelity visualization/animation of the simulated full‐field vibration of the structure. Laboratory experiments are conducted to validate the proposed method, and the error sources and limitations in practical implementations are also discussed. Compared with high‐fidelity finite element computer model simulations of structural dynamics, the video‐based simulation method removes the need to explicitly model the structure's physics. In addition, the photo‐realistic, physically accurate simulated video provides a realistic visualization/animation of the full‐field structural dynamic response, which was not traditionally available. These features of the proposed method should enable a new alternative to the traditional computer‐aided finite element model simulation for high‐fidelity simulating and realistically visualizing full‐field structural dynamics in a relatively efficient and user‐friendly manner

Orthostatic Tremor is Responsive to Bilateral Thalamic Deep Brain Stimulation: Report of Two Cases Performed Asleep

Background: Orthostatic tremor (OT) is a hyperkinetic movement disorder characterized by rapid tremor in the lower extremities or trunk upon standing. Case Report: We report two patients presenting with OT, whose symptoms improved markedly following asleep bilateral thalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery. Discussion: Medically refractory OT can respond favorably to asleep bilateral DBS surgery similar to awake surgery, and may have the advantages of less psychological trauma to the patient, shorter procedure times, and less exposure to anesthesia

A Detect and Avoid System in the Context of Multiple-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations

NASA's Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration into the National Airspace System (UAS in the NAS) project examines the technical barriers associated with the operation of UAS in civil airspace. For UAS, the removal of the pilot from onboard the aircraft has eliminated the ability of the ground-based pilot in command (PIC) to use out-the-window visual information to make judgements about a potential threat of a loss of well clear with another aircraft. NASA's Phase 1 research supported the development of a Detect and Avoid (DAA) system that supports the ground-based pilot's ability to detect potential traffic conflicts and determine a resolution maneuver, but existing display/alerting requirements did not account for multiple UAS control (1:N). Demands for increased scalability of UAS in the NAS operations are expected to create a need for simultaneous control of UAs, and thus, a new DAA HMI design will likely be necessary. Previous research, however, has found performance degradations as the number of vehicles under operator control has increased. The purpose of the current human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation was to examine the viability of 1:N operations with the Phase 1 DAA alerting and guidance. Sixteen UAS pilots flew three scenarios with varying number of UAs under their control (1:1, 1:3, 1:5). In addition to their supervisory and sensor mission responsibilities, pilots were to utilize the DAA system to remain DAA well clear (DWC) during scripted conflicts of mixed severity. Measured response times, separation performance, mission task data, and subjective feedback were collected to assess how the multi-UAS control configuration impacted pilots' ability to maintain DAA well clear and perform the mission tasks. Overall, the DAA system proved surprisingly adaptive to multi-UAS control for preventing losses of DAA well clear (LoDWC). The findings suggest that, while multi-UAS operators are able to maintain safe separation (DWC) from other traffic, their ability to efficiently perform missions drastically decreases with their number of controlled vehicles. Pilot feedback indicated that, for this context, the use of automation support tools for completing and managing mission tasks would be appropriate and desired, especially for ensuring efficient use of assets. Finally, human-machine interface (HMI) design considerations for multi-UAS operations are discussed