The impact of fluorescent and LED lighting on student attitudes and behavior in the classroom

Abstract Introduction: This study examined empirical research on the effects of high correlated color temperature light-emitting diodes (LED) and fluorescent lighting on students in the classroom. LED is becoming the most recent lighting option for optimal energy efficiency over fluorescent technology. Background: A review of the literature indicates correlated color temperature (CCT) of lighting has nonvisual effects on students, with higher CCT positively impacting attitudes and behavior. The review also revealed current studies regarding dynamic or tunable lighting that adjusts CCT based on desired activity and mood. Data from an original survey analyzed teacher insights and perceptions regarding student attitudes and behaviors associated with existing classroom lighting and the impact of higher color temperature LED. Methods: Participants were pre-K through high school qualified teachers from three schools and/or personal contacts of the principal investigator. Seventy-five teachers responded to the online questionnaire. The survey data suggests teachers perceive higher color temperature lighting positively impacts student alertness, attitude, and energy level; and adjusting light levels throughout a school day positively impacts student engagement. Results and conclusion: Results supported the perception of higher correlated color temperature lighting positively impacting alertness, attitude, and energy level. Findings also supported the ability to change light levels throughout the school day to positively impact student engagement and mood. There were mixed results regarding higher correlated color temperature impacting attention and on-task/off- task behaviors. Results regarding the impact of sound and flickering from fluorescent lights were not significant

Analysis of 12 AH aerospace nickel-cadmium cells from the design variable program

The Design Variable Program of NASA/GSFC provided a systematic approach to evaluate the performance of 12 Ampere-Hour Nickel-Cadmium cells of different designs. Design Variables tested in this program included teflonated negative plates, silver treated negative plates, lightly loaded negative plates, positive plates with no cadmium treatment, plate design of 1968 utilizing old and new processing techniques and electrochemically impregnated positive plates. These cells were life cycled in a Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) regime for 3 to 4 years. Representative cells taken from the Design Variable Program were examined via chemical, electrochemical and surface analyses. The results indicate the following: (1) positive swelling and carbonate content in the electrolyte increase as a function of number of cycles; (2) electrolyte distribution follows a general order NEG greater than POS greater than SEP; (3) control and No PQ groups outperformed the rest of the groups; and (4) the polyproylene group exhibited heavy cadmium migration and poor performance

Speech perception in MRI scanner noise by persons with aphasia

Purpose. To examine reductions in performance on auditory tasks by aphasic and neurologically-intact individuals as a result of concomitant MRI scanner noise. Methods. Four tasks together forming a continuum of linguistic complexity were developed. They included complex-tone pitch discrimination, same/different discrimination of minimal pair syllables, lexical decision, and sentence plausibility. Each task was performed by persons with aphasia (PWA) and by controls. The stimuli were presented in silence and also in the noise recorded from within the bore of a 3T MRI scanner at three signal-to-noise ratios (S/Ns). Results. Across the four tasks, the PWA scored lower than the controls and performance fell as a function of decreased S/N. However, the rate at which performance fell was not different across the two listener groups in any task. Conclusions. Depending upon the relative levels of the signals and noise, the intense noise accompanying MRI scanning has the potential to severely disrupt performance. However, PWA are no more susceptible to the disruptive influence of this noise than are unimpaired individuals usually employed as controls. Thus, fMRI data from aphasic and control individuals may be interpreted without complications associated with large interactions between scanner noise and performance reduction

Structural synthesis of a stiffened cylinder

Structural synthesis of cylindrical shell reinforced with rectangular cross section stiffener

An analytical approach to solution of two- point boundary condition problems in optimal guidance Summary report, May 1965 - Apr. 1966

Analytical approaches to path-adaptive guidance functions, circular orbit trajectories, and use of Fortran-compiled program

Implementing a Heart Failure Education Program for Bedside Nurses in the Acute Care Setting

Heart failure is a chronic disease in which a weakened heart is no longer able to deliver adequate blood flow to supply the body with needed oxygen and nutrients. Heart failure is the most common reason for hospitalization in the United States for patients age 65 and over, accounting for over 1,000,000 hospital admissions annually. Due to the chronic nature of this debilitating condition and associated symptoms, patients discharged from the hospital with a diagnosis of heart failure are at high risk for readmission. Effective self-care behaviors have been shown to reduce readmissions and improve quality of life for these patients. Unfortunately, evidence shows that nurses are often unprepared to deliver effective self-care education to their patients with heart failure. The primary goal of this project was to implement an educational intervention within a multi-hospital system to improve nurses’ knowledge and comfort level in delivering heart failure self-care education to their patients. Two conceptual models were used to guide the project, andragogy and Carper’s Fundamental Patterns of Knowing in Nursing. The Nurses’ Knowledge of Heart Failure Education Principles Survey (NKHFEP) measured nurses’ knowledge of heart failure self-care principles before and after the intervention. A Likert-scale survey was used to assess nurses’ self-perception of heart failure knowledge and comfort in delivering such education. Post-intervention scores on the NKHFEP survey indicated a significant improvement in heart failure knowledge, and participant self-assessment of knowledge and comfort levels also increased post-intervention. The class is now a permanent offering in the hospital system’s central education department. By empowering nurses to deliver effective heart failure education to their patients, this project has a high likelihood of improving patient outcomes as part of a multimodal approach to reducing heart failure readmissions

Molecular studies of Wolbachia and sex-determination genes in Australian Bactrocera species : complementary approaches to improved fruit fly control

Bactrocera tryoni (Diptera, Tephritidae), the Queensland fruit fly (Qfly), is the most significant horticultural pest species in Australia. The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), which relies on the release of vast numbers of irradiated sterile insects to suppress field populations, has been used in this species and, globally, is a successful pest management strategy for many insect species. For Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata, the incorporation of a genetic sexing system (GSS), that allows male-only releases, can increase effectiveness of SIT by 3-5 times. However, there is currently no GSS for B. tryoni. Furthermore, field performance of sterile flies, mass-reared and irradiated, can be generally lower than of wild individuals. Novel strategies such as Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT) exploit the reproductive manipulations of the maternally-inherited common endosymbiotic bacterium of insects, Wolbachia, to induce unidirectionally incompatible matings between uninfected field-females and released males carrying Wolbachia. While this method circumvents irradiation, a male-only release cohort is essential because females carrying Wolbachia are fully fertile; accidental release of infected females and thus inheritance of released Wolbachia in field populations would soon lead to a breakdown of the mating incompatibility essential for pest suppression. This thesis details the results of three fundamental and independent, yet complementary, experiments designed to investigate prospects for IIT and improvement of SIT, namely: an assessment of the incidence, prevalence and type of Wolbachia strains in Australian tephritid fruit fly species across their geographic range; a survey of the general microbiome of tephritid fruit fly species from different ecological niches and both natural and laboratory sources; an examination of genes expressed in early embryos of two Australian Bactrocera pest species, to generate molecular tools for GSS. Moreover, this work represents a valuable contribution to the ecological and epidemiological understanding of Wolbachia infection life cycles in insect communities, through discovery of a new model system for examining the distribution of Wolbachia along a climatic gradient, and the horizontal transmission of Wolbachia among a community of tephritid fruit flies. This work also presents important molecular studies of sex-specific gene expression over early embryonic development, with the aim of clarifying the function of M in tephritid fruit flies as models for the many insect species with similar sex-determination systems

XRF and the Corrosion Environment at Camp Lawton: A Comprehensive Study of the Archeological Microenvironment of a Civil War Prison Camp

Author\u27s abstract: Handheld X Ray Fluorescence (XRF) technology is a new and emerging method in the field of archeology. This thesis discusses the results of XRF comparative analysis and comparative chemical analysis between a given ferrous metallic artifact\u27s corrosion environment (the surrounding soil matrix) and the subsequent corrosion products formed on the artifact. The hypothesis is that the data will demonstrate a chemical correlation between the two. Iron and chlorine are the two major elements discussed in the study. The artifacts in the sample set have been collected from Camp Lawton (9JS1), a Confederate Prison for Union Soldiers located in Millen, GA that dates to late 1864