Ion engine thrust vector study Quarterly report

Thrust stand and thruster designs for ion engine

Formal and Informal Environmental Education in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

With funding from the Gulf of Mexico Program-Environmental Protection Agency and in parnership with the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Center for Science and Mathematics Education at The University of Southern Mississippi provides environmental education for under-represented and underserved K-12 students in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, and the general public of the Gulf Region through teacher workshops, school visits, Coastal Ecology Camps and community evening programs. All 10 participating schools have a minority enrollment greater than 50 percent and include Alexandria Middle Magnet School, Alexandria, La.; Sherwood Middle Magnet School, Baton Rouge, La.; Gulfport Central Middle School, Gulfport, Miss.; N.R. Burger Middle School, Hattiesburg, Miss.; West Marion Elementary School, Foxworth, Miss.; Katherine L. Hankins Middle School, Theodore, Ala.; Donnie Bickman Middle School, Shreveport, La.; Ferriday Junior High School, Ferriday, La.; T.H. Harris Middle School, Metairie, La.; and Tupelo Middle School, Tupelo, Miss. Two teachers from each school receive professional development through lectures, hands-on activities and field trips in environmental literacy and stewardship ethics at Southern Miss\u27 Marine Education Center/Gulf Coast Research Laboratory and the Grand Bay NERR. During subsequent school-year visits to schools, profect staff lead students in conducting water quality and land cover GLOBE protocols or bring Touch Tanks for studnts (2,394 students to date) to see, handle and learn about marine life. Teachers then bring students (175 students to date) to the coast for field experiences at the Grand Bay NERR, Ship Island or the Pascagoula River. Post-test scores of both teachers and students show significant gains in content knowledge, and surveys used to collect qualitative data show enhanced appreciation for the environment. Funding has also provided 11 community evening My Coast events (on topics such as salt marshes, estuaries, bats, owls, flounders, etc.) with a total of 853 people in attendance

Enfranchising Displaced Voters: Lessons from Bosnia-Herzegovina

How can the designers and administrators of election rules balance the need to enfranchise voters with the need to ensure the integrity of the vote? This tension is particularly acute when large numbers of voting-age citizens are displaced from their permanent residences due to war, natural disaster, or other conditions. Our article addresses the challenges of enfranchising refugees and internally-displaced persons (IDPs) by assessing statutory and practical experiences of Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1996–2006. This article adds to the research on displaced voters by exploring the treatment of refugees and IDPs in election laws, the debate surrounding their inclusion, and by assessing the participation of refugees and IDPs in one country across many elections

Viewing art on a tablet computer: a wellbeing intervention for people with dementia and their caregivers

Background: Art-based interventions have been shown to be beneficial for the wellbeing of people with dementia and their caregivers. This paper explored whether such interventions can be delivered via a touchscreen tablet device displaying art images. Methods: Twelve pairs of volunteers with dementia and informal caregivers were recruited. A quasi-experimental mixed-methods within-subjects study evaluated the wellbeing impacts of art viewing using visual analogue scales and explored participant experiences with thematic analysis. Findings: Quantitative results showed a significant effect for change in composite wellbeing from session one to session five. Wellbeing subdomains showed impact on wellbeing, which generally increased with number of sessions. Qualitative findings included changes in cognition, behaviour, mood and relationships. These changes tended to be viewed positively. Conclusions: The results suggest touchscreen-based art interventions could yield wellbeing benefits for this population. A larger-scale controlled study would help to determine whether wider dementia care practice implications can be drawn

Coastal Watershed Connections: Student Impact, Stewardship, and Reflections

The project provided students and teachers in six coastal and noncoastal Title 1 secondary schools in Mississippi with experiential learning activities to emphasize connections between their local watershed an coastal habitats of the Gulf of Mexico using GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) protocols, OBIS (Outdoor Biology Instruction Strategies) Science and service-learning projects

Using the GLOBE Program to Educate Students on the Interdependence of Professional Development?

We present how we have used GLOBE protocols and programs in a college undergraduate English course for science and non-science majors, “Writing in the Sciences”, and in a graduate-level field course for in-service teachers. Collecting land cover data and determining biomass in conjunction with a series of writing assignments allowed the English students to connect their work to research done in ecosystems throughout the world, and to specific environmental concerns such as carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and the impact of controlled burning on ecosystems. Teachers demonstrated increased knowledge of ecology, natural histories of various organisms, and awareness of environmental resources. A study conducted the following summer revealed that teachers valued the course and felt that their experiences helped them be more effective teachers. Six of the eight teachers had conducted field activities with their students, but also reported significant challenges associated with the effort

Black Candidates and Black Voters: Assessing the Impact of Candidate Race on Uncounted Vote Rates

Numerous studies show that the rate at which African‐Americans cast ballots with missing or invalid votes, i.e., the African‐American residual vote rate, is higher than the corresponding white rate. While existing literature argues that the plethora of African‐American residual votes is caused by administrative problems or socioeconomic factors, we show using precinct‐level data from two recent elections in Cook County, Illinois, that the African‐American residual vote rate in electoral contests with black candidates is less than half the rate in contests without black candidates. African Americans, therefore, are able to reduce their residual vote rate when they wish to do so. We present complementary findings for white voters, whose residual vote rate often substantially increases in contests which feature dominant black candidates