Academic Recognition of Military Experience in STEM Education

Recent calls for increases in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education attainment and veterans' education success have created a platform for examining how veterans with military experience in STEM fields can more efficiently complete postsecondary education and training.The American Council on Education (ACE) military evaluation program provides credit recommendations for military courses that align servicemembers' training with postsecondary curricula and competencies. These recommendations,if accepted as transfer credit, can decrease the time it takes servicemembers and veterans to complete STEM certificates and degrees.Numerous challenges exist in considering military credit recommendations for postsecondary courses and degrees. The process is complex, requiring an acute understanding of military transcripts and the resources and tools available to assist institutions of higher education in awarding credit for military training. Additionally, misinformation and lack of awareness regarding the content, scope, and rigor of the ACE review process and resulting credit recommendations create resistance to awarding credit.Successfully increasing acceptance of military credit recommendations at institutions of higher education can be achievedthrough public-private partnerships between colleges and universities, federal agencies, workforce development experts, and other key stakeholders using available resources and tools to build degree pathways that accurately map military training to STEM courses.An education campaign about the ACE review process and the value of the resulting credit recommendations will also help eliminate the stigma surrounding credit awarded for prior learning, and boost support among leaders and institutions for increased acceptance of military credit recommendations. This approach will lead to the developmentof best practices and, ultimately, increases in both STEM attainment and veterans' education success

The Importance of Philosophy to Engineering

Philosophy has not paid sufficient attention to engineering. Nevertheless, engineers should not use this as an excuse to ignore philosophy. The argument here is that philosophy is important to engineering for at least three reasons. First, philosophy is necessary so that engineers may understand and defend themselves against philosophical criticisms. In fact, there is a tradition of engineering philosophy that is largely overlooked, even by engineers. Second, philosophy, especially ethics, is necessary to help engineers deal with professional ethical problems. A case study of ethics requirements for U.S. engineering curricula substantiates this point. Third, because of the inherently philosophical character of engineering, philosophy may actually function as a means to greater engineering self-understanding

El software convivencial. Una perspectiva del usuario final sobre software libre y el código abierto

El software es un tipo de invención que nace en un contexto determinado. No toda innovación acaba teniendo éxito. En este sentido es posible analizar este contexto para valorar su viabilidad futura. Por otro lado, se puede entender que el software libre representa la emergencia de un nuevo paradigma ético y social en convivencia con otras formas de "libertad". Se examina cómo el software libre es coherente con la tradición ética de los diversos colegios ingenieriles y deontologías. Finalmente se propone la producción de un "software convivencial" que atienda más a los usuarios

Simulation Modeling for Robust and Just Public Policy Decision-Making

Public policy decision-making is challenging for several reasons. First, the outcomes of pulling a public policy lever are often deeply uncertain because of the complexity of the social and physical systems involved. Second, even if outcomes can be predicted, there are multiple points of view to consider, and the same outcome can be viewed anywhere from very positively to very negatively by different stakeholders. Because of this, public policy decisions should be both robust and just. Robustness helps with the uncertainty in outcomes and justice helps with differences in worldview. In this dissertation, I employ system dynamics and agent-based simulation modeling techniques to assist decision-making in two public policy contexts: COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions and police funding. I also develop a framework in which both robustness and justice can be handled simultaneously in complex public policy problems

Development of Quantitative Ultrasound-Mediated Molecular Imaging of the Tumor Microenvironment

While conventional diagnostic imaging modalities provide anatomical information to clinicians, these techniques are not sensitive to critical physiological processes. In order to properly classify cancer, it is necessary to investigate noninvasive methods which can provide insight into these processes, allowing clinicians to determine personalized therapeutic options. Therefore, molecular imaging is focused on visualization and characterization of biomarkers within the tumor microenvironment (TME), which can then be combined with the anatomical information provided from diagnostic imaging. Two such biomarkers of interest are blood oxygen saturation (SO2) and cell receptor expression. SO2 is a measure of the fraction of hemoglobin which is bound to oxygen, which has been shown to correlate to tumor progression. Additionally, several cancer subtypes have been shown to overexpress specific cell receptors (e.g., EGFR). Therefore, cell receptor expression has emerged as a biomarker which can help the physician to identify potential beneficial treatment options. While molecular imaging methods are being explored in order to assess these two biomarkers, current methods suffer from limitations such as poor spatio-temporal resolution and poor depth penetration. To overcome these limitations, ultrasound (US)-mediated imaging techniques have been investigated to characterize these molecular imaging biomarkers. The objective of this work is to develop and validate US-mediated techniques to investigate the TME biomarkers of SO2 and cell receptor expression. In this work, photoacoustic (PA) imaging methods were developed along with optical fluence modeling techniques in order to improve accuracy and precision of SO2 estimates. SO2 estimation accuracy was shown to improve from 16.8% error to 3.2% error with a precision of 2.3% in tissue-mimicking phantoms, while in vivo estimation of SO2 in a rat artery (i.e., expected value \u3e95%) increased from 92.9±2.9% to 95.5±1.2%. Additionally, a high-frequency US-mediated imaging platform was developed to image and activate phase-changing perfluorocarbon nanodroplet contrast agents (PNCAs). Using this imaging platform, PNCAs were activated and imaged to determine PNCA enhancement. Optimal PNCA particles generated a median signal enhancement of 6.2 in a phantom environment after US activation, while a pilot in vivo study showed significant US-mediated PNCA activation of two separate intra-muscular injections in the hind limb

Continuity and change in north European nordpolitikk in the wake of the cold war: the Barents Euro-Arctic Region (B.E.A.R.)

This thesis aims to look at how the the northern policies (Nordpolitikk) of governments in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia have been affected by processes of continuity and change, with regard to the development of the Barents Euro-Arctic Region (BEAR) as a new entity. In studying, also, the forces shaping this region's emergence and political direction, the Nordpolitikk, especially of Norway, is assessed. The paper begins by examining the region geographically, and by explaining the changes which Russo-Nordic relations underwent in the final years of the Cold War. The effects that changes in the international political climate since have had upon the national policies of Northern Europe are also considered, and the reasoning behind the Barents cooperation scheme is explained both implicitly and explicitly within this context. The implications of the nascent 'region' are then discussed, both in terms of economic practicalities and political potentialities. From this theoretical basis, aspects of continuity and change inherent in the BEAR are subsequently investigated. Key areas (such as economics and the environment, their significance for regional confidence and stability, and the interaction between the BEAR and wider European and pan-Arctic processes) are analysed. The commentary of various contemporary players and interpreters is reassessed, in the light of three years of the scheme's operation, changing national and foreign policies, and new internal and external threats to the region's future. The role of the Barents Region as a bridge-builder between Russia and Wes tern Europe is then reviewed, as is the BEAR' s ( co-)operative potential. The concluding section aims to reflect upon whether or not the Barents co.:operation structure genuinely responds to changing needs. The division between military/security and civilian goals is considered, as the question is posed whether the BEAR can ultimately become anything more than a mere puppet for the continuation of national policies, and what chance it has for wider recognition. Finally, the remaining implications of the Barents Euro-Arctic Region are debated, as its role is assessed between North, South, East and West.Digitisation of this thesis was sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwi