The Academic Impact of Suspension on Black Male Students in an Urban High School

The focus of this research was the academic impact of school suspension on Black male students in an urban high school. Findings for the study were derived from archival data retrieved with permission from the school district that served as the site of the study. The performance of 400 Black male students in the 2015 cohort of eight high schools on the New York State Algebra Regents exam was analyzed to determine whether suspension from school affected achievement as measured by the passing score on an exam which determined successful high school completion and academic success. The implications of these findings for Black males, both socially and economically, as compared to their White and Hispanic counterparts, as well as Black females are discussed. Research suggests that the policies that limit educational opportunities for Black males decrease the probability of their employment prospects, while increasing the need for welfare services, the future rate of incarceration in prisons, and the potential for commitment to psychiatric institutions. The findings from this study could inform understanding of the impact of the policy of school suspension, one of several policies which limit educational opportunities for Black male students. Implications of the study include alternative approaches to addressing student behavior in high schools and adjustment to the delivery of Math curriculum and instruction to ensure it is culturally sensitive to the diverse needs and backgrounds of all students

Michigan Medicine Infectious Disease Department: Efficient Attending Scheduling

Assigning shifts in a hospital setting can often be complicated. Attendees often want fair schedules that avoid having them work long hours, on requested vacations dates, or back-to-back shifts that change hospital locations. There is also the complication of assigning attendings to shifts they are qualified to work based on their experience. It often takes a lot of time to manually create a single draft schedule with these constraints in mind and only becomes more time consuming to adjust and redraft a given schedule. The problem described above can be written as a linear programming model. This model can then be translated into code which generates schedules. A similar code exists from a different scheduling project and the task at hand is to tweak the current code to one that will work for this specific project. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to provide an automated system to generate an attendee schedule for the calendar year quickly and conveniently, even with complex constraints and rules.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/169556/1/Hattar_Capstone_Final_Report.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/169556/2/Hattar_Design_Expo.pptxhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/169556/3/Hattar_Capstone_Presentation.ppt

Winning Banking Strategies to Identify Efficiency Changes During a Financial Crisis

Between 2007 and 2009, taxpayers paid $700 billion to bail out failing U.S. banks. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies that leaders of a successful U.S. bank used to identify efficiency changes occurring during the financial crisis. The target population of this study included 6 bank leaders located in San Bernardino, California, who occupied a managerial role in a successful U.S. bank during a financial crisis, had experience with the efficiency changes that occurred during a financial crisis, and developed and implemented strategies to identify efficiency changes that took place during a financial crisis. The conceptual framework for this study was the theory of economic efficiency. Data consisted of semistructured interviews, annual fiscal reports, and proxy statements. All interpretations of the data were subjected to member checking to ensure trustworthiness of interpretations. Yin\u27s method of qualitative data analysis was adopted, which consisted of five sequential steps: compiling the data, disassembling the data, reassembling the data, interpreting the meaning of the data, and drawing conclusions from the data. Based on the methodological triangulation of the data collected, 3 of the main themes that emerged were management strategies, application of digital technology, and growth maximization and risky loan elimination. The implications for positive social change include the potential to avoid bank failures in the future, resulting in a stronger and more robust economy, thus sparing taxpayers the burden of bailing out failing banks

Transfer Student Experiences at a Four-Year University

In recent years attention has been concentrated on the experiences of traditional college students, with very little research or attention on the experiences of transfer students. The purpose of this causal comparative mixed-methods study was to describe the experiences of transfer students who engage in the experiential learning activities of service learning and/or internship activities at a four-year public Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in the Inland Empire. Relationships were found between transfer students who participated in service learning and/or internship activities and those transfer students who did not participate in those activities on the following: level of satisfaction with their educational experience, current job/career, and sense of connectedness to the university, and beliefs about how much the university contributed to their acquisition of job- or work-related knowledge and skills. Predominant concepts regarding transfer students\u27 beliefs about what the university could do to help them be successful, were the implementation of a transfer student orientation and creating a transfer student center

Evolution of Gold Nanoparticles in Radiation Environments

Gold nanoparticles are being explored for several applications in radiation environments, including uses in cancer radiotherapy treatments and advanced satellite or detector applications. In these applications, nanoparticle interactions with energetic neutrons, photons, and charged particles can cause structural damage ranging from single atom displacement events to bulk morphological changes. Due to the diminutive length scales and prodigious surface-to-volume ratios of gold nanoparticles, radiation damage effects are typically dominated by sputtering and surface interactions and can vary drastically from bulk behavior and classical models. Here, we report on contemporary experimental and computational modeling efforts that have contributed to the current understanding of how ionizing radiation environments affect the structure and properties of gold nanoparticles. The future potential for elucidating the active mechanisms in gold nanoparticles exposed to ionizing radiation and the subsequent ability to predictively model the radiation stability and ion beam modification parameters will be discussed

Concurrent in situ ion irradiation transmission electron microscope

AbstractAn in situ ion irradiation transmission electron microscope has been developed and is operational at Sandia National Laboratories. This facility permits high spatial resolution, real time observation of electron transparent samples under ion irradiation, implantation, mechanical loading, corrosive environments, and combinations thereof. This includes the simultaneous implantation of low-energy gas ions (0.8–30keV) during high-energy heavy ion irradiation (0.8–48MeV). Initial results in polycrystalline gold foils are provided to demonstrate the range of capabilities

Helium bubble formation in ultrafine and nanocrystalline tungsten under different extreme conditions

We have investigated the effects of helium ion irradiation energy and sample temperature on the performance of grain boundaries as helium sinks in ultrafine grained and nanocrystalline tungsten. Irradiations were performed at displacement and non-displacement energies and at temperatures above and below that required for vacancy migration. Microstructural investigations were performed using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) combined with either in-situ or ex-situ ion irradiation. Under helium irradiation at an energy which does not cause atomic displacements in tungsten (70 eV), regardless of temperature and thus vacancy migration conditions, bubbles were uniformly distributed with no preferential bubble formation on grain boundaries. At energies that can cause displacements, bubbles were observed to be preferentially formed on the grain boundaries only at high temperatures where vacancy migration occurs. Under these conditions, the decoration of grain boundaries with large facetted bubbles occurred on nanocrystalline grains with dimensions less than 60 nm. We discuss the importance of vacancy supply and the formation and migration of radiation-induced defects on the performance of grain boundaries as helium sinks and the resulting irradiation tolerance of ultrafine grained and nanocrystalline tungsten to bubble formatio

Gamification of assembly planning in virtual environment

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of the gamification of virtual assembly planning on the user performance, user experience and engagement. / Design/methodology/approach: A multi-touch table was used to manipulate virtual parts and gamification features were integrated into the virtual assembly environment. An experiment was conducted in two conditions: a gamified and a non-gamified virtual environment. Subjects had to assemble a virtual pump. The user performance was evaluated in terms of the number of errors, the feasibility of the generated assembly sequence and the user feedback. / Findings: The gamification reduced the number of errors and increased the score representing the number of right decisions. The results of the subjective and objective analysis showed that the number of errors decreased with engagement in the gamified assembly. The increase in the overall user experience reduced the number of errors. The subjective evaluation showed a significant difference between the gamified and the non-gamified assembly in terms of the level of engagement, the learning usability and the overall experience. / Research limitations/implications: The effective learning retention after training has not been tested, and longitudinal studies are necessary. The effect of the used gamification elements has been evaluated as a whole; further work could isolate the most beneficial features and add other elements that might be more beneficial for learning. / Originality/value: The research reported in this paper provides valuable insights into the gamification of virtual assembly using a low-cost multi-touch interface. The results are promising for training operators to assemble a product at the design stage

Predicting Physical Activity-Related Outcomes in Overweight and Obese Adults: A Health Action Process Approach

Background: We tested the adequacy of a model based on the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) in predicting changes in psychological, body composition, and cardiovascular risk outcomes with respect to physical activity participation in overweight and obese adults. Methods: Measures of HAPA constructs (action and maintenance self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, action planning, risk perceptions, intentions, behaviour), psychological outcomes (quality of life, depression, anxiety, stress symptoms), body composition variables (body weight, body fat mass), cardiovascular risk measures (total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein), and self-reported physical activity behaviour were administered to participants (N = 74) at baseline, and 6 and 12 weeks later. Results: Data were analysed using variance-based structural equationmodelling with residualised change scores for HAPA variables. The model revealed effects of action self-efficacy and outcome expectancies on physical activity intentions, action self-efficacy on maintenance self-efficacy, and maintenance self-efficacy and intentions on action planning. Intention predicted psychological and body composition outcomes indirectly through physical activity behaviour. Action planning was a direct predictor of psychological, cardiovascular, and body composition outcomes. Conclusions: Data supported HAPA hypotheses in relation to intentions and behaviour, but not the role of action planning as a mediator of the intention-behaviour relationship. Action planning predicted outcomes independent of intentions and behaviour

THE FINANCIAL FEASIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A FRESH PRODUCE PACKING HOUSE IN JORDAN

Historically, Jordan's traditional markets for fresh produce have been the Persian Gulf countries. However, these exports have declined in recent years and new markets in Europe have been tapped. One of the main constraints to expanding the European market is the lack of quality-oriented packing houses in Jordan. This study considers the feasibility of a vegetable packing house designed to meet the quality requirements of the European market. The overall objective is to evaluate the economic viability of packing and transporting various fresh produce items to the European market. Specifically, four transportation scenarios were evaluated using a comprehensive firm-level, dynamic and stochastic, multiple-year, capital budgeting computer simulation model. Simulation provides a very flexible technique that can easily incorporate risk and uncertainty into the investment decision-making process. The results show that the medium sized vegetable packing house is viable when serving the European markets. Also, the economic performance of the packing house improved when shipping by refrigerated truck. Furthermore, the stabilizing effect of land transport was captured in the much lower variability in the expected returns.Agribusiness,