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WHAT NOW? WHAT NEXT? A NARRATIVE ANALYSIS OF CROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATION AND COLLEGE STUDENT RETENTION

First year college student retention is important to colleges and universities nationwide (Bean, 2005). Most of the research on retention focuses on self-report data collected from students after they withdraw from the institution. The present study focuses, instead, on student stories about school, as well as at and about “home” during their first semester. The experiences of students who transition from high school to college are sometimes likened to those of individuals who enter a new culture for the first time. Thus, this dissertation is grounded in cross-cultural adaptation theory (Kim, 1988, 2001), which posits that successful adaptation occurs via a stress-adaption-growth dynamic and a gradual process of acculturation toward the new environment and simultaneous deculturation from the previous environment. Stories—in the form of in-class free writing assignments—were collected from 264 first-year college students three times during their first semester. These assignments were designed to capture students’ perceptions about their experiences and interactions at school, as well as their experiences and messages to, from, and about “home” as they evolved over the course of the semester. A thematic analysis revealed the majority of stories about events at school were negative and an overwhelming majority of the stories about events at home were positive. A longitudinal comparative analysis revealed no decrease in the percentage of negative stories about experiences and interactions at or about school. Moreover, stories focused on positive school related experiences decreased over time while stories about positive experiences at or about home gradually increased over the course of the semester. For students who did not enroll for spring semester, the results were similar but more dramatic. A large percentage of non-returners were female, about half were first generation college students, and a majority reported “home” as less than 100 miles from the university. More research ought to focus on what goes on during a student’s first year of college to better understand reasons for withdrawing. In doing so, college and university professionals will be able to work more effectively with high school officials, parents, and students to achieve success once they graduate from high school

Heat flow in InAs/InP heterostructure nanowires

The transfer of heat between electrons and phonons plays a key role for thermal management in future nanowire-based devices, but only a few experimental measurements of electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling in nanowires are available. Here, we combine experimental temperature measurements on an InAs/InP heterostructure nanowire system with finite element modeling (FEM) to extract information on heat flow mediated by e-ph coupling. We find that the electron and phonon temperatures in our system are highly coupled even at temperatures as low as 2 K. Additionally, we find evidence that the usual power-law temperature dependence of electron-phonon coupling may not correctly describe the coupling in nanowires and show that this result is consistent with previous research on similar one-dimensional electron systems. We also compare the strength of the observed e-ph coupling to a theoretical analysis of e-ph interaction in InAs nanowires, which predicts a significantly weaker coupling strength than observed experimentally.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

The role of speed lines in subtle direction judgments

AbstractStimuli moving in slightly different directions trace trajectories that differ slightly in orientation. These different ‘speed lines’, in principle, could generate responses in orientation mechanisms, and such responses could determine how well we judge subtle direction differences. Alternatively, the ability to judge subtle direction differences could be determined by direction mechanisms rather than by orientation mechanisms. To distinguish between these possibilities we exploited the fact that opposite directions of motion share an orientation: Across trials, participants judged a constant orientation difference between trajectories having either the same or opposite motion signs. The probabilities of the motion signs were also manipulated. When the probabilities were consistent with those typically used to assess fine direction discrimination, direction mechanisms set the limit on performance. In other conditions where orientation mechanisms could have set the limit on performance, responses were neither more precise nor faster than when performance was limited by direction mechanisms

Little Moonshine : Two Step - Intermezzo

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-ps/1731/thumbnail.jp

A project partnering approach to the main contractor–sub-contractor relationship

This research describes an investigation into developing closer working relationships through project partnering in order to reduce the occurrence of adversarial practices commonly found between main contractors and subcontractors. A literature review was undertaken that identified two main types of partnering: project partnering; and strategic partnering. One of the main differences between the two types of partnering were identified as being their durations: short term (project partnering); and long term (strategic partnering). It was concluded that the published literature had the following limitations: primarily applicable to the Australian and US construction industries; models and processes identified did not have an adequate practical content; and limited application to the main contractor - SC relationship. After completion of the literature review a research methodology was developed, allowing an alternative approach to project partnering to be developed. The research methodology enabled information to be obtained from both the collaborating contractors personnel and SC personnel. The approach to project partnering was named 'semi project partnering' as it contained an element of SC competition. The approach was implemented on a live commercial project during the preconstruction tendering and estimating stages. The semi project partnering approach utilised both the knowledge gained from the literature review and the conclusions from the empirical research. The approach was validated by the collaborating company's personnel. Further validation of the achievements of the approach took place by interviewing personnel from both the collaborating company and subcontractors. The main outcomes from the research are: identification of what a main contractor's employees want from their dealings with subcontractors; recognition of what subcontractors want from their dealings with main contractors; a comparison of the collaborating companies performance compared to that of its competitors; and a semi project partnering approach that provides: a reduction in the occurrence of adversarial practices used between main contractors and subcontractors; and earlier involvement of subcontractors within the building process promoting mutual understanding

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Vanity : Intermezzo

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-ps/1697/thumbnail.jp