Farming Fish in a Transitional Economy: A Case for East Timor

This case study evaluates the economic potential for a grow-out mariculture enterprise in East Timor while highlighting how such a business venture could help engage a transitional nation in foreign trade, increase employment opportunities and encourage community based projects that promote sustainable resource use.aquaculture, mariculture, grouper, East Timor, transitional economy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q10, Q22,

Who are Rural Students? How Definitions of Rurality Affect Research on College Completion

Given a revived national discourse about rural populations, more educational research on rural students is necessary, including ways that rural students transition to college and the success (or lack thereof) that they experience once there. However, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has changed the definition of rurality used in each iterative dataset over the last few decades, casting doubt on the consistency of what is meant by the term rural. The purpose of this study is to: (a) communicate to the educational research audience various ways of defining rural students, and specifically how NCES has changed their definition of rurality over their last three major data collections; (b) demonstrate how conclusions about rural students’ and their college degree completion may differ based on these alternate NCES definitions; and (c) discuss how this specific example using NCES data relates to the wider landscape of research on rural students. Results show that conclusions about college degree completion change depending on the definition of rurality used for analysis. Therefore, the education research community should consider the options for defining rural students, report transparently about the choices made, consider the sensitivity of results to the definition of rurality, and ultimately build a more robust body of literature concerning rural students’ college success. Gaining definitional clarity will be beneficial, particularly for those who wish to translate their research into practical action for the benefit of rural students

Uncovering a genre : the integration of suspended aerial apparatus and contemporary dance practice in Australia

Genres in the performing arts are constantly shifting and changing, with many artforms evolving into new spheres of performance. It is not uncommon for creators to employ tools and techniques from various disciplines to support their artistic vision and enhance their work. A number of contemporary dance artists have begun to explore movement in the air by adapting skills or equipment from other disciplines and industries to suit their needs. At the same time, some circus artists and aerialists have been lowering their apparatus to incorporate ground-based movement into their work. It is this cross-pollination between art-forms that has formed the basis for this project. Looking specifically at the borderlines between contemporary dance and aerial arts\ in Australia, this project seeks to discover whether the work of contemporary dance artists who incorporate aerial apparatus into their practice are contributing to the creation of a new genre, or whether their work remains a facet of contemporary dance. Using a combination of observation, participation and semi-structured interviews with a small group of key creatives, this ethnographic study reflects on the current situation relating to the use of aerial apparatus in Australia. A framework of classification developed by Kendall Walton (1970) was also employed to gain an understanding of how the careers and creations of these key practitioners are contributing to the performing arts landscape in Australia. Some of the advantages and disadvantages to this system of classification have been highlighted. A surprising finding suggested that within the Australian context, aerial dance exists as a sub genre of both aerial arts and contemporary dance. This is despite the knowledge that aerial dance in America and Europe is understood to be related to, and have grown from, the modern dance or contemporary dance sphere. This suggests that there is the potential for aerial dance to emerge as a genre in its own right

Power-Assist Wheelchair Attachment

This senior design project sought to combine the best characteristics of manual and power wheelchairs by creating a battery-powered attachment to propel a manual wheelchair. The primary customer needs were determined to be affordability, portability, and travel on uneven surfaces. After the initial prototype, using a hub motor proved unsuccessful, so a second design was developed that consisted of a gear reduction motor and drive wheel connected to the back of the wheelchair by a trailing arm that could be easily attached/detached from the frame. The prototype of the second design succeeded in meeting most of the project goals related to cost, off-road capability, inclines, and range. Improvements can be made by reducing the attachment weight and improving user control of the device

STEM degree completion and first-generation college students. A cumulative disadvantage approach to the outcomes gap

STEM majors offer pathways to lucrative careers but are often inac-cessible to first-generation students. Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study, we conducted descriptive statistics, regression analyses, and group comparisons to examine differences between first-generation students and continuing-generation students across STEM degree, non-STEM degree, dropout, and no degree completion. Findings illuminate that generation status is related to STEM completion, but other factors are driving this association; for example, pre-college STEM factors have significant predictive power. Our implications suggest a need to further examine pre-college and transfer pathways to STEM and to explore the limitations of first-generation status as a categorization

Narrowed Gaps and Persistent Challenges: Examining Rural-Nonrural Disparities in Postsecondary Outcomes over Time

Empirical studies have concluded that rural students experience lower rates of college enrollment and degree completion compared to their nonrural peers, but this literature needs to be expanded and updated for a continually changing context. This article examines the rural-nonrural disparities in students’ postsecondary trajectories, influences, and outcomes. By comparing results to past research using similar national data and an identical design, we are able to examine change over time. Results show narrowed gaps from the 1990s into the 2000s, but with rural students still facing persistent challenges and experiencing lower average rates of college enrollment and degree completion

Digital Media

Students produce a short (3 to 4 minute) group (4/group) video production, detailing a biochemistry concept. The group decides the choice of content during the initial meetings and storyboarding of the idea(s). The content must address, in some way, a biochemical concept related to TFBC2001. This concept could be the basis of an important biochemical experiment, a creative explanation of a biochemical hypothesis, addressing a biochemical misconception, or exploring a biochemical model. The video can contain any form of multimedia (video, sound, audio, animation etc.) but it must be visual, engaging and creative